But Ludlow has one assignment no other Kirtland Community College student shares: The 9-year-old must maintain good grades in her fourth-grade class at Rose City Elementary School.

"That is the number one rule," said Ludlow, of Lupton. "I have to get good grades, but last time I got a B+ and that's a better grade than my dad got."

That comes as no surprise to her father and Kirtland classmate, Jeremy Ludlow, 30.

"That is the way she has always been. If you put something in front of her to learn, she just absorbs it," the elder Ludlow said. "It is kind of amazing, really."

The Ludlows teamed up to take classes in American Sign Language, or ASL. Jeremy Ludlow suffers from gradual hearing loss and is taking the class to learn conversational sign, knowing it'll come in handy one day.

His daughter has much bigger plans, and she quickly corrects anyone who thinks her father is the sole reason she is taking the classes.

"I have a friend who can't speak," Courtney said. "I wanted to teach him how to sign, and I did teach him some, but I learned that out of a book and it was the wrong sign."

Realizing she needed better instruction if she hoped to teach her friend and others, she asked to attend Kirtland.

"Other cultures use different sign, but American Sign Language is the standard language in our deaf community" Courtney said. "That's what they teach at the college."

With her education aided by "really cool things like compact discs and computer programs," Courtney said she receives no preferential treatment because of her age.

"We got along right from the beginning," she said of the older students in her class. "They don't treat me any different. I do just as much as everybody else in the class. I really just have to study a lot."

Courtney's college instructor, Brenda Dawe, agreed her young student holds her own with her other students.

"I do not show partiality," said Dawe, a nationally certified ASL interpreter. "I expect 100-percent participation and age is of little consequence to me or to the class."

Of those Dawe has taught in her 16 years instructing ASL - students ranging in age from 6 to nearly 80 years old - children are often the most zealous learners, she said.

"If I have noticed anything in particular, it is that children are willing to take the risk of looking silly," Dawe said. "Adults hesitate. I've had to remind her that all students need a chance to answer, since their grade also depends on it."

Ludlow receives full college credit for the classes, according to Dawe. Because of that, the instructor left it up to Ludlow's fellow students to set the boundaries for their younger peer.

"I made sure that students partner up and she is not placed with her father," said Dawe. "At the end of the semester, I doubt there was one student there who felt she didn't belong."

The feeling is mutual; Courtney feels right at home at the college.

"Next year I'll be taking ASL-3, plus finger spelling and I would like to take an honors class," said Ludlow, adding art classes are also in her future.

Besides teaching and interpreting ASL, Courtney hopes one day to be an author as well as a singer-songwriter. If her goals seem lofty for her age, she has a long personal history to support her dreams. Ludlow has taken tap dance lessons since she was 3, and has already taken the first steps toward every one of her goals.

"I sang at the Fourth of July celebration in Rose City last year, and I sang at the Valentine's Day Sweetheart Social last month," said Ludlow, noting country music is her favorite and Toby Keith and Gretchen Wilson provide her inspiration.

She hopes to enter talent contests beginning this year and though Ludlow has yet to start her great American novel, she said she gets lots of practice writing in her fourth-grade class.

Shelly Fales, principal of Rose City Elementary School, said a significant reason behind Ludlow's success is the encouragement she receives from her parents and grandparents.

"She receives a great deal of support from her family in achieving her goal of learning American Sign Language," Fales said.

Fales said Ludlow is a high achiever, adding the trait is what enables her to attend college.

"Courtney is expected to maintain her studies and she has certainly done that," Fales said.

But while she's enjoying success already at the college level, she still is very much aware of her place in elementary school.

"Right now I'm only in fourth grade," she said. "We don't go to the middle school until we go to fifth grade."

And Courtney is well aware of what a change in schools will mean for her and her classmates.

"That means we'll be the shrimps of the school again," she said.

By Jerry Nunn