While most of us used the time inside during the COVID pandemic to eat and binge-watch shows on our favorite streaming platforms, 9-year-old David Balogun was doing big things. And I’m not talking about advancing to the next level in Minecraft. This young man from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, used his time to earn his high school diploma and become one of the youngest known children to do so.
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David’s mother, Ronya Balogun, recognized her son’s extraordinary academic potential early. “When we tested him for giftedness in first grade. He had already passed second-grade level in math and in English,” she said in an interview with INSIDER. “So that’s when I stepped in and said, ‘He does not need to go to second grade. He needs to go to third grade.’ Then COVID hit. Two and a half years later, he finished high school,” she added.
According to Pennsylvania NBC affiliate WGAL, David belongs to Mensa, the elite society of members with extraordinarily high IQs. The 9-year-old completed his high school coursework online at home through Reach Cyber Charter School, where he focused on STEM subjects. David earned his diploma with a GPA of over 4.0.
David has taken some community college classes while his parents help him find the right fit for college. And although Princeton, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard are on the shortlist, his mother says her baby isn’t quite ready for the typical college experience. Instead, they are taking their time to find a place where her son can thrive.
“We’re still kind of grappling with all these things, if that makes any sense, to figure out what is the right fit. Again, he’s 9 years old, I’m not dropping my kid off,” she told INSIDER. “It’s going to take a lot.”
After college, David says he wants to be an astrophysicist and study black holes and supernovas. And if his academic achievements weren’t impressive enough, he’s also working on his black belt in the martial arts.
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