When her classmates in elementary school would read fun and entertaining books, Marne Garretson of Clarksburg knew her mother would choose more academic books for her.

She recalled the times in third grade when book order delivery day left her in tears.

The extra push to read serious or scientific books seems to have paid off, as the 14-year-old started classes this week at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va., after a summer spent helping with research in a Drexel University science laboratory in Pennsylvania.

Garretson said she enjoyed the lab experience, which taught her the process of removing cells and reinforced her interest in a career in medical research. Like most of science, the project became simple when broken down to smaller pieces, she said.

One of the books she read as a girl, this one recommended by her grandmother — "The Ditchdigger's Daughters" — helped Garretson find her career path early.

The book is about an African-American laborer who wanted his six daughters to be doctors.

Her mother, Marlinda Boxley, started college at 16 but said that was not a goal she set for her only child. Boxley is an administrator with the Washington, D.C., public schools.

However, the divorced mother was determined to expose her daughter to as many opportunities as possible.

"What was unique about it was she'd never say, ‘No, I don't want to go,'" Boxley recalled. "If I said, ‘Let's go bungee-jumping,' she'd say, ‘Let's go.'"

Garretson hesitated when her mother suggested an early college admission just before the start of her freshman year at Clarksburg High School, her first time at a public institution.

"I was a little hesitant because I felt like I should experience high school and wasn't sure I could do the course load," Garretson said. "I needed to mature."

Her year at Clarksburg gave Garretson a taste of the best and worst of high school, she said.

Garretson played on the junior varsity volleyball and softball teams, and earned a 3.8 grade point average in the school's signature Advanced Placement Power Scholars Program. However, Garretson said she had items stolen, was surprised by the lack of respect some students showed for education and teachers, and was frightened by fights.

When her mother suggested college again, she was ready.

"I like challenges and I feel like going to college early will be an excellent challenge," Garretson said.

Teacher Rachel Clements, who wrote a letter of recommendation to the college for Garretson, said she stood out at Clarksburg for her contentiousness and good rapport with adults as well as her membership in the signature program, which accepted only 35 students from the freshman class.

"She was more committed than most freshmen and definitely had more academic maturity than other students," Clements said.

Garretson was also well liked by peers, she said.

"She's one of those students who's going to do great no matter what she does," Clements said.

Garretson will be in the class of 2013 in the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va.

The program, started in 1985, allows gifted girls to enter the private women's college after the eighth or ninth grade. The approximately 70 students in the program are housed in their own dormitory.

Program Director Stephanie Ferguson said about half of those who apply to the program are accepted.

"Mary Baldwin College benefits by having these bright, motivated and engaged students not only in classes, but also within the student body," she wrote in an e-mail.

As they readied for her departure, Garretson and her mother gave each other credit for the great strides already taken.

"Nurture has its place, but nurture only works if you're coachable," Boxley said. "Nurture only works if you have some talent."