Precocious is a word you could use to describe Emil Tapper. He was born eight weeks early in Colorado Springs in September 2002. After a month in NICU, he went home with his parents Gunnar and Ingela Tapper, in Bluebird Hill near Woodland Park. The Tappers moved to Florissant a year later and he attended school in Divide. School proved to be a struggle for him, and after first grade, Emil was homeschooled. He started using a keyboard instead of writing, which better enabled Emil to learn and function. “Overall, it’s been an interesting journey. We took Emil out of school in first grade when he simply refused to read and write. The same kid that was a walking-talking dinosaur encyclopedia and pushed the guides hard at the dinosaur museum when he was around six. Now, he’s a writer and an avid reader. Go figure,” remarked Gunnar Tapper, Emil’s father.