David Balogun is just like any other typical 9-year-old boy — he plays sports and the piano and likes to do martial arts — except for one thing. He also just so happens to be a high school graduate.
David, who hails from Bensalem, Pennsylvania, just made his way into the history books as one of the youngest-ever high school graduates — and to top it off, he’s already finished a semester of community college.
David's accomplishment is no small feat. The average age for high school graduation in both the United States and Canada is around 18 years old, which means that he has completed twelve years' worth of schooling in just a fraction of that time.
How a 9-Year-Old is Already a High School Graduate
While other 9-year-olds are in the 4th grade, learning social studies and fractions, David is already talking about university majors.
David's mother, Ronya Balogun, told reporters that her son was tested for giftedness in Grade 1. He then went on to skip several grades in elementary school.
David started high school in 2020, attending the Reach Cyber Charter School, and taking classes remotely. He was only 7 years old.
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"They didn't bog me down. They also advocated for me, saying, 'He can do this. He can do that,'" David told local news outlet WGAL8.
His teachers were right. David excelled, graduating less than three years later with an over 4.0 GPA. And in the process, he wasn't the only one who learned a lesson or two, his teachers did too. His 8th-grade science teacher, Cody Derr, said: “David was an inspirational kid, definitely one who changes the way you think about teaching.”
What It's Like Raising a Bonafide Genius
Kids often act like they're smarter than their parents, but in this case, it's true.
“He’s a nine-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,” Ronya said.
And that's saying a lot. Both Ronya and her husband are geniuses in their own right, each one having graduated from university with advanced academic degrees. Even so, parenting such a gifted child comes with unique challenges.
"I had to get outside of the box. Playing pillow fights when you're not supposed to, throwing the balls in the house," Ronya said.
Since graduating, David, a member of Mensa, the largest high-IQ society in the world, has completed one semester at Bucks County Community College.
And he's just getting started. A lover of computer programming and science, David wants to be an astrophysicist when he grows up (or by the time he's a teenager if he keeps going the way he has.) He's particularly interested in studying black holes and supernovas.
David and his family are currently looking at colleges and universities across the country.
If you want a sense of David's abilities, he periodically posts math problems to his YouTube channel, solving arithmetic problems that adults would probably only scratch their heads at...
The Genius 9-Year-Old is Second to One
The only person to graduate high school younger than David is Michael Kearney, who currently holds the Guinness World Record. He received his high school diploma at a mere 6 years old. By the time he was ten, he had earned a Bachelor's degree in anthropology, making him the youngest ever to graduate from university as well. He would later go on to get two Master's degrees.
Since then he has won over $1 million on popular gameshows, including "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire."
As for whether or not David will follow in Michael's footsteps, that remains to be seen.
But one thing is certain, he is more than capable of achieving great things. And there's no doubt, he has a bright future ahead of him.
