Floor sietsma

Floor Sietsma (11-2-1992) is a Dutch student at the UvA who became known for being the youngest Dutch student ever.

Early life

Floor Sietsma taught herself to read at the age of 3. When she went to primary school she was way ahead of the rest. "It wasn't a nice time, also because the teachers didn't believe I was ahead of the rest and insisted that I should not take an IQ test." [http://www.scholieren.com/magazine/op_je_dertiende_in_de_collegebanken Op je dertiende in de collegebanken?! | scholieren.com ] ] She doesn't know how high her IQ is. "They couldn't measure it. The European tests go up to 156. My IQ is higher." [http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?articleID=gpu5jm8q Het Nieuwsblad - Super-slim meisje van 12 gaat naar universiteit in Amsterdam ] ] She was being bullied a lot; "I didn't wear the right clothes, was bad at PE and very smart as well". "The bullying became so bad that I became depressed. I didn't really see a reason to live." Her situation improved when she went to high school at the age of 10. "I wasn't being bullied that badly any more, but I was an odd-man-out. Besides, I was bored to death." Her mother Gineke thought it was enough and searched for a solution. That solution was Smart Studying: an education where Floor was prepared for graduting high school within a year.

University study

When she was twelve Floor started her studies computerscience and mathematics, which is a record according to the IBG. [http://www.observant.unimaas.nl/default.asp?page=/jrg24/obs31/art38.htm Observant Online ] ] . This caused some indignation. "A twelve year old girl that's already going to university? Incredible. That's unbelievable. This is really sad." [http://www.fontein.nl/cgi-oic/pagedb.exe/show?no=10783&fromno=6305 2004-04-28 Grote zorgen over wonderkind van 12 ] ] said Laetitia Hooft, head of the Landelijk Informatiecentrum Hoogbegaafdheid (national info centre for intellectual giftedness). Bernadette van den Anker, founder of Smart Studying, understands the commotion. "When we look at an average twelve year old child, then we are a bit surprised", she says. "Such a child is just supposed to be at school, where she can hang out with other children her age. Except: Floor is not an average child. She isn't even just exceptional. You can't generalise her." "The most important thing is that Floor is finally getting somewhere where she will be happy" [http://www.ad.nl/archive/?service=archive&articleID=2127977] , Floors mom says. "That she has a light form of autism, is the reason she is allowed to study here", says study advisor Iris Hettelingh. "Otherwise I'd be much more reserved about taking her in. But for autistic persons it is good to get this kind of education. The haven't got much else." After a year Floor decided to stop mathematics. Not because she couldn't understand the lessons, but because there was some kind of creep that drove her mad. When she was fifteen she got her bachelor diploma of computercience. The title of her bachelor thesis is 'Model checking for dynamic epistemic logic with factual change'. Momentary she studies the master of Logic at the UvA.

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