Clovis Hung caused more than a few double-takes at the graduation ceremony at Fullerton College in Southern California, and for a good reason, considering he’s just 12 years old and was graduating from college with five degrees.
He is the youngest person to graduate from that university, and if that isn’t impressive enough, he did all this in less than three years. He started taking college courses in the Fall of 2020 when his mother pulled him out of traditional public school to give him more of a challenge.
Here’s part of a statement released by the school with this quote from Hung’s mother, Song Choi.
“Clovis is super inquisitive, mature, diligent, self-disciplined, and highly motivated. He is also very curious and traditional public schools could not satisfy his curiosity, therefore, the best option was college.”
The story is amazing on every level. There was initially some worry about how he would fit in with more traditional college students between seven and ten years older than him. His Biology professor Kenneth Collins said that was never an issue.
“At first, I was a little worried about how he would relate to the other students given the age and developmental differences, however, those concerns were unfounded. Clovis has been a great mixture of ‘kid’ and college student. He is mature enough that the other students take him seriously, but enough of a kid that they look after him like a younger brother and cheer him on.”
Fullerton is a public community college about 30 miles south of Los Angeles. As his collegiate academic career progressed, he continued to challenge himself by adding more classes and was eventually accepted into the Honors Program there.
He was one of approximately 900 grads. His Associate of Arts degrees came in History, Social Behavior, Social Sciences, Arts and Human Expression, and Science and Mathematics.
As for where this incredible overachiever goes from here, he told ABC 7 in Los Angeles that he wants to go into aerospace engineering and pediatrics, or he might become a pilot.
“I feel really proud of what I’ve accomplished so far. I also just joined the Civic Air Patrol and hope to get my pilot license at age 16.”
Something tells me he probably will.
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