WASHINGTON A 10-year-old Florida boy started classes at Randolph-Macon college near here becoming the youngest person ever to attend university after having completed a 13-year school curriculum in five years. Gregory Smith, who graduated from a Florida high school on June 11, started classes last week at the Ashland, Virginia University some 137 kilometers (85 miles) south of here. He chose the college -- where some 1,100 students are enrolled -- for its small class sizes, which will allow "him to benefit by interacting directly with professors and other students," said his mother, Janet Smith. The president of Randolph-Macon, Roger Martin, said Smith was an "exceptional young man" at a news conference organized to announce his arrival at the university.

The small university, Martin added, "is a good match" for the young boy because he had a strong interest in their programs in astrophysics, political science and international relations. Gregory Smith, who stands only 1.37 meters (54 inches) tall, hopes to become president of the United States or develop space colonies, his father Bob Smith said. Gregory also chose the university because it has foreign exchange and internship programs.

He had expressed interest in the programs at the Sorbonne in Paris, the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome and the United Nations. In his application to the college, Gregory Smith said his youth would allow him to pursue multiple degrees in a variety of fields. "I look upon my academic future as unlimited," the boy said. The university is known for sending many students on to graduate school.

His father said the attention he is receiving could overwhelm most people, but that Gregory thrived on it and loved to speak in public.