Moments after his geology class ends, Terence Candell Jr. calls his father.

"I got my papers back today and I did pretty good," he says with joy.

His father is proud and appreciative of his son's hard work.

Terence, an Oakland resident, checks the time on an oversized watch that easily slides past his left wrist and onto his forearm before asking his dad if he can be picked up in 20 minutes.

"OK, see you then. I love you too," he says.

Dressed in baggy clothing he has yet to grow into, Terence walks toward the school plaza.

The weather is warm, with a gentle breeze that picks up a braided tail away from his curly locks. Terence says he's been growing the tail since he was 3 — right around when he began to read and write.

He takes short strides and strolls alongside a beat-up luggage carrier he uses for his books.

"I used to have a much heavier one last year, which made me walk a lot slower," Terence says before reaching his destination on the California State University, East Bay, campus.

While he awaits his ride, other students can be seen driving off campus.

Even if he wanted to, Terence couldn't legally drive. Atage 11, he's not old enough.

Last year, he broke into the university as a 10-year-old freshman aspiring to be a veterinarian or an astronaut.

Now a sophomore, with his 12th birthday Thursday, the youngest student on campus is exploring a career in mass communications.

Officials say three other international students ages 12, 15 and 16 attend the university.

"It's definitely a rarity," said Dr. Sally Murphy, general education director. She has been helping Terence plan his class schedules since he arrived on campus.

"I try to have him take classes that interest him and that aren't too late in the night or too early in the morning," she said. "I also try to match him with faculty who I feel would be sympathetic to how an 11-year-old may think compared to an 18- or 19-year-old."

Terence began reading and writing in an attempt to gain the attention of his father, whom he considers to be his hero.

"I just remember heading to the bookshelf and picking up one of those Reader Rabbit books and reading," he says. "I don't know how, but I did it."

His parents were amazed, but didn't think anything of it.

"I would be teaching my daughter, a special-needs child, and he'd be writing down the sentences I was telling her to write," said his father, Terence Candell Sr. "We really didn't acknowledge anything he did until he was just outperforming everyone in his classes."

Terence Jr. says that when he was in first grade, at age 4, he constantly would get into trouble, prompting his teacher to say he suffered from a learning disability.

"That wasn't the case at all. I'd get all the work done in 10 minutes because I found it easy,'" he said. "I would get bored, so I just tried to make my classmates laugh."

By the time he was 6, Terence was doing high-school-level work and was pulled out of public schools to attend Candell's College Preparatory Academy, a private school founded by his father in East Oakland.

The school, based on Christian and family-style education, currently has about 90 K-12 students, with a 100 percent acceptance rate for its graduates applying to four-year colleges.

"My dad just knew what I needed and knew how to challenge me," Terence said.

At age 9, when Terrence was nearing the end of his senior year in high school, a teacher recommended he take the SAT test.

"We said no," his father said. "After a meeting with his teacher, we went ahead and let him take the test and he did OK. It wasn't anything wonderful or miraculous, but he passed."

Upon graduating from high school, the next step for Terence was college — something his parents were reluctant to approve at first.

"We just never believed in stifling a child and wanted to let him do what he wants academically," Candell Sr. said.

Terence applied and got accepted.

"OK, it was nice to know he got in, but we were thinking we don't have to send him," Candell said. "We were frightened, and for the longest time we decided we weren't going to send him to college."

But the Candells were surprised by the outpouring of support for Terence, who wanted to attend college, and eventually let him loose.

"Everyone, from his teachers to his aunts, was telling us we had to let him go because the situation was bigger than both of us," Candell said. "So we let him go because we never wanted to have him become stagnant."

Despite Terence's success in college — his first university report card had a few A's and B's and one C — he feels the studying has taken away from spending time with his family and friends.

"If I could do it over again, I probably wouldn't have gone," he says. "My parents are always working, and I'm studying so much that sometimes I wish I can spend more time with my family."

Terence has also come across socialization issues on campus, Murphy said.

"He wasn't a total outsider, but our university is really not set up to manage an 11-year-old," she said. "My initial concern was his safety because there are those issues of fitting in."

Murphy has seen circumstances where older students haven't been kind to Terence.

But Terence isn't fazed as he focuses on what got him in the position he's in today: a passion for learning.

In his spare time, Terence enjoys playing with his dogs and turtle. He's also a big fan of Pokemon.

"He's just a good kid, and when he's at home he goofs around and plays his video games, which we're happy about," his father said. "But if we feel that he's going up the wrong direction with all of this, we'll put the brakes on everything."

Although he has flip-flopped on a potential career — before mass communications, he strongly considered pre-med — Terence knows for sure he wants to make a difference.

"A goal of mine it to just help out my community because it's not really the best one to be in right now," he said.

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