A 17-year-old Oak Harbor High School student is getting a jump start on life.

Meredith Schulte will soon head for the University of Southern California to begin her college career one year early as one of 50 students nationwide selected for the early admission Resident Honors Program. Additionally, USC awarded Schulte a partial scholarship for four years.

She will major in biology and anthropology and hopes to continue her education to earn a doctorate in primatology.

Schulte found out about the program when she received a brochure in the mail. She sent the application to USC on Dec. 4, 2001, and received her acceptance letter at the the beginning of March.

Schulte will head to Los Angeles on Aug. 21 to settle into the dorm.

“It’s going to be a big change,” from Oak Harbor, Schulte said recently.

USC’s Resident Honors Program considered applicants with “a proven academic performance, a passion for learning, an insatiable curiosity and a spirit of adventure,” according to program material.

Schulte has maintained a 4.0 grade point average at Oak Harbor High School

Additionally, Schulte applied for and received an $1,800 undergraduate research grant from USC. Over the next four years Schulte will search for the answer to her proposed question: “Is there any link between the percentage of shared DNA and behavioral interaction between different species of primates?” Schulte will perform the research under the direction of either Craig Stanford or Jane Goodall.

Schulte’s long-term career plans would take her even farther away from Oak Harbor.

“Ideally, I’d love to work in the Karisoki Research Center in Rwanda,” studying mountain gorillas, Schulte said. “I would hope to discover something to get more people to appreciate the need for (primates) to be protected.”

Schulte is the daughter of Dr. Richard J. Schulte and Michelle Collins of Oak Harbor.