David Balogun has made news since graduating from high school at the age of nine (9) years. While many of his peers were not totally committed to their studies and were watching cartoons, playing video games, or participating in sports, he was engrossed in his books, focusing on science and computer programming.
Balogun just graduated from Reach Cyber Charter School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, after taking lessons online from his family’s home in Bensalem, according to WGAL.
His education with Reach Cyber Charter School began in the third grade in 2020. “One thing that digital schools can do, that brick and mortar schools cannot catch up to, is that if you miss a lesson, you can still do it tomorrow. You can also go ahead of the plan, and that’s how I went faster,” said Balogun. “I finished 8th grade in two-and-a-half months. Then I started high school.”
According to the history and culture website oldest.org, he is now one of the youngest children ever to graduate from high school. Since 1990, when he was just six years old, Michael Kearney has held the Guinness World Record for the youngest high school graduate. He went on to achieve master’s degrees at the ages of 14 and 18, before earning over a million dollars on game shows.
Balogun is presently a student at Bucks County Community College, where he is working on his college degree.
He was recently invited to visit the James Webb Space Telescope Mission Operations Center in Baltimore by NASA and the Maryland-based Space Telescope Science Institute.
Balogum, who came to the institute with his mother, wowed the scientists with his intelligence.
“I had actually seen David’s story all over social media and thought, ‘Wow, I’d bet he’d find a trip to Webb’s Mission Operations Center exciting!’” Hannah Braun, the institute’s spokesperson told Atlanta Black Star.
Ronya Balogun, Balogun’s mother, stated that everyone at the institute was “thrilled” to meet her son. She stated that prior to his arrival, personnel were “buzzing with excitement” to meet the MENSA member and history-maker.
Balogun was led to the Flight Control Room, which has been described as “the beating heart of the Webb telescope.” He observed them performing a “mock-up for the soundcheck,” a procedure performed by astronauts prior to takeoff.
According to Atlanta Black Star, he then began talking about something they had never heard of before, Super Saturn.
“We were all discussing the different types of exoplanets (planets that orbit stars other than our sun) that Webb studies, and will study in the future. David then mentioned how cool Super Saturn is, and we said, ‘What’s that?’ So then we got to Googling,” Braun recalled.
“Everyone was quite impressed with David and all of his knowledge,” he added.