When most girls approach their 18th birthday, they may have an upcoming high school graduation on their minds, but Isabel Jewell was looking forward to a very different ceremony: her master’s convocation.
Jewell and her older sister Sophia graduated this week with a master’s degree in Slavic languages and literatures from the University of Toronto. It was the culmination of a journey that began with undergraduate studies at the University of Alberta when they were just 12 and 14 years old.
The sisters hid their ages from most classmates and teachers, but spoke to CBC Toronto this week.
“In a way, it didn’t make a difference to me because I was just doing it with my sister and we were together all the time,” said Isabel Jewel, who just turned 18.
“But when we told colleagues, they thought it was very, very strange. They were a bit shocked. So we stopped telling people.”
Sophia Jewell started the adventure for the couple.
Sophia Jewell at 19 and Isabel Jewell at 16 when they graduated from the University of Alberta. (Submitted by: Mena Jewell)
“At first, it was just for the languages. I really wanted to learn languages, but our family doesn’t speak Polish, they don’t speak Ukrainian, so I thought maybe we could do them at university,” she said.
Sophia, who had been home-schooled until then, was able to enroll in a language course at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where the family lived.
As soon as she started, she loved it, bringing her enthusiasm home to her family, especially Isabel.
“I was halfway through my first dish, and then one night, we were sitting up late talking about what it was like, and I said, ‘Hey, I have this crazy idea,'” Sophia recalled.
“What if I teach you all about my first year and you can join me for the second half of the language course?” she said to her little sister.
It is “amazing” that the sisters are so young, the professor says
Her mother, Mena Jewell, who homeschooled her daughters, says Sophia was getting top grades, “but the most important thing was that she was very happy.”
And when Sophia came up with the idea of taking Isabel to school with her, Mena says she gave her blessing.
Soon after, both girls were pursuing degrees in modern languages and cultural studies.
The Jewell family at the University of Toronto for convocation week celebrating Sophia and Isabel getting a master’s degree. (Paul Borkwood/CBC)
The professor who taught his Russian Thinkers course at U of T, Allan Smith, says he thought they might have been a little younger than most of his students. He was shocked when CBC Toronto told him how much younger the sisters really are.
“It’s amazing, honestly, that they were still teenagers,” he said with a laugh. He points out that they both wrote interesting papers and made meaningful contributions to the class.
Both Isabel and Sophia say they are taking their time to figure out what they would like to do next.
Isabel says people sometimes assume she and her sisters must be geniuses. But she doesn’t necessarily think that’s how they’ve achieved their success.
“It’s not this idea of being a prodigy or anything, but being willing to do the hard work, invest in it and learn to work together,” he said.
The university has not been able to confirm whether Isabel is its youngest master’s graduate.
But record or not, their success has provided some inspiration.
Rosalina Jewell, 14, said, “Yeah, probably,” when asked by CBC News if she will follow in her older sisters’ academic footsteps.