12-year-old graduates from high school, heading to college to study math and physics
MALVERNE, New York -- 12-year-old Suborno Isaac Bari is graduating from Malverne High School in Malverne, New York, Wednesday, making him the youngest scholar to ever graduate from the history of the Nassau County school, according to Malverne Union Free School District.
The video is from a previous report.
Suborno told "Good Morning America" he's excited to graduate and it's been a "long" journey for him so far, even though the high school senior skipped 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 11th grades - completing his 4th, 8th, 10th and 12th grades in Malverne Union Free School District while passing the New York State Regents examinations to graduate.
"It's been an absolutely wonderful experience," Suborno said of his high school career.
"I met so many great people and I've learned a lot in both math and science and other disciplines. But I think I'm ready to move on and pursue my higher education to the best of my ability," Suborno added.
Rebecca Gottesman, the director of K-12 school counseling at Malverne Union Free School District, has been in education for the last 25 years and called Suborno, whom she first met as a fourth grader, "a prodigy."
"Every year, school counselors are asked on behalf of the students that are applying to these colleges to answer the question, 'Is this one of your most exceptional students that you've ever seen in your career?' ... and I can say without any doubt that Suborno is the most exceptional student I've ever met academically," Gottesman said. "He's really a prodigy."
Gottesman said the school district and the Bari family worked together to figure out a tailored plan that would let Suborno take higher-level classes but still integrate with his peers and develop socially and emotionally.
"We entered into an agreement where we would allow him to take high school-level courses but take them at our middle school. So he would come into our middle school as [an] eighth-grader [and take core classes] ... and then after he took his morning classes, we would put him on the bus and he would take a bus to our elementary school where he would reintegrate with his fifth-grade peers, which were his same-age peers and participate in fifth-grade electives and after-school activities," Gottesman explained.
Suborno said even though he accelerated through grades and split his time, teachers and fellow students embraced him and gave him space to pursue his interests.
"They treated me just like any other high school student ... and that's how I really wanted to be treated by the community," the young whiz said.
Gottesman said Suborno, who earned a 1500 on the SAT, 34 on the ACT, and took five AP classes, has left an indelible mark on the Malverne community as an academic leader and is more than ready for college.
"He really a wonderful, wonderful young man. He's got an inquisitiveness and a thirst for knowledge, like nobody I've ever seen," Gottesman said. "He's been a joy to work with."
The 12-year-old aspires to earn a Ph.D. and become a professor. Suborno is heading in the fall as a commuter student to New York University on a scholarship to study for a bachelor's degree in math and physics.
"Many people are doing it only because their parents said so or because engineers just make the most profit, not because they actually love what they're doing. So I hope to fix that and help other people understand math and science and love it in all its beauty," Suborno said.
"Do what you do because you like it because of the passion you feel when describing it or doing it," he added.
