Pennsylvania 9-year-old graduates from high school, starts college

Bobby Laurie
·2 min read
8

Story at a glance

  • Nine-year-old David Balogun of Pennsylvania has graduated high school and started taking college classes.

  • He said attending school remotely allowed him to excel at a faster pace.

  • The family is currently looking into Ivy League schools – including the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Harvard – but living on campus is not an option for the 9-year-old.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – A 9-year-old boy in Pennsylvania has done something other children his age will take another nine years to do: graduate high school and begin college.

Soon after starting with Harrisburg-based Reach Cyber Charter School, David Balogun tested out of elementary and middle school and started his high school curriculum.

“I finished eighth grade in two and a half months and then I started high school,” Balogun explained to Nexstar’s WHTM. He said attending school remotely allowed him to excel at a faster pace.

His mother, Ronya Balogun, said his journey began two years earlier.

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“When he heard the word ‘S.T.E.M’ program, at seven years old, he was jumping up and down. I said ‘Okay, this is where we’re going, this is what we’re doing.’ He loved it from the first moment. It’s been an amazing journey,” she told WHTM.

As a high school graduate, David is now taking classes at Buck County Community College in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and together as a family, they’re exploring what’s next.

They’re currently looking into Ivy League schools – including the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Harvard – but living on campus is not an option for the 9-year-old.

“It’s something we really have to think about really seriously,” Henry Balogun, David’s father, explained.

David said that after he finishes college, he’d like to become an astrophysicist.

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