A proud mother shed tears of joy after her 14-year-old son became the youngest person ever to graduate from Texas Christian University.
Carson Huey-You was among more than 2,000 students who got a degree at the Fort Worth school, where he also minored in Chinese and Math.
His extraordinary achievements have put him in the history books, but the humble teen describes himself as ‘normal dude.‘
Carson doesn’t see himself as different from his peers and shies away when others call him a ‘genius’ or a ‘celebrity’.
But the clever boy already has his eyes set on getting graduate and doctorate degrees in quantum mechanics.
‘I’m a normal dude,’ he told the Star-telegram. ‘It is just something I have learned to deal with because, to me I am not a genius. I am a normal 14-year-old person doing college-level stuff.’
Carson entered Texas Christian University at just 11 years old. He also graduated as the co-valedictorian at his high school.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing and he admits he was intimidated by his new surroundings when he first got to college.
Carson says his college classes were a lot more difficult than he anticipated, especially the American environmental history, general chemistry II and classical mechanics classes.
‘It was scary at first because my high school was only one building versus a massive campus with tons of people,’ Carson told the paper.
‘After that, I really did get used to it because TCU was so accommodating and a positive influence really.
‘When I used to get bad test scores or something like that, I would go home and be disappointed and think about, “Oh, I should have known this, I should have done way better.”‘
Now, he told the local paper: ‘I know better how to deal with that disappointment, knowing that I will bounce back.’
Carson is fascinated by the ‘very small-scale things’ in quantum physics, and sees this field as central to the future of smartphones and other electronic devices.
‘Quantum mechanics deals with very, very small-scale things,’ Carson said.
‘Even, a lot of the times, past microscopic level so you get electrons, protons, neutrons — even smaller than that going into quarks.’
He then added: ‘Smartphones, computers, electronics — all of that stuff runs on quantum mechanics. If you want smaller technology that fits into smaller spaces, then that’s really where to look.’
Remarkably, Carson’s brother Cannan is also a child prodigy.
The 10-year-old graduated from the Accommodated Learning Academy – the same high school his brother attended – and is also headed to the Texas Christian Academy to study engineering, physics and astronomy.
His mother, Claretta Kimp, said he started learning calculus when he was 3, and she credits her availability as a stay-at-home mother, as well as TCU’s community of faculty and teachers, to her oldest son’s achievements. She hopes her sons grow up to be selfless people who give back to society.
Comments
Loading…