This 9-Year-Old Is Now a High School Graduate

Pennsylvania's David Balogun hopes to be an astrophysicist
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 6, 2023 3:18 PM CST

Like lots of kids, David Balogun took remote classes during the pandemic. Unlike lots of kids, however, David used those online classes at Reach Cyber Charter School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to help him notch a quite impressive achievement: earning a high school diploma before he even hit his teens, reports CBS News. "He's a 9-year-old with the brain that has the capacity to understand and comprehend a lot of concepts beyond his years, and sometimes beyond my understanding," David's mother, Ronya Balogun, tells WVTM of her son, who completed his high school requirements from the family home in Bensalem.

"They didn't bog me down," David tells the news station of his instructors. "They also advocated for me, saying, 'He can do this. He can do that.'" His teachers had similar praise for their young student. "David was an inspirational kid, definitely one who changes the way you think about teaching," science instructor Cody Derr says. David, who's particularly drawn to science and computer programming, already thinks he knows what path he wants to go down.

"I want to be an astrophysicist, and I want to study black holes and supernovas," he says. David has already wrapped up a semester at Bucks County Community College, and his parents are now trying to find the best longer-term college match for the tween, who also plays the piano and is going for his black belt in martial arts. "Am I going to throw my 9-year-old into Harvard while I'm living in Pennsylvania? No," dad Henry Balogun says. WGAL notes that David is also a member of Mensa, and both of his parents themselves have advanced degrees. (More child prodigy stories.)

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