Indian-American prodigy graduates as engineer at 15

Updated: 29 Jul 2018, 01:10 PM IST rediffmail.com

Age is just a number

What happens to prodigies when they recede from the headlines and grow up in a world that has stayed normal? Three years after the TOI reported on Indian-American pre-teen Tanishq Abraham graduating from a California community college at age 11, he has earned his degree in biomedical engineering from UC Davis — at age 15, just another milestone in his fabled academic journey.

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'I am an engineer'

In a story that still makes ripples in the United States’ scholastic world, where prodigies are frequent and fast-flowing, Tanishq received his degree on Father’s Day (June 17), just a few days after he turned 15, wearing a graduation cap emblazoned with the words: “Started at 12, finished at 14. Trust me I am an engineer!” “It was the best Father’s Day gift for my husband and also my dad,” says Tanishq’s mother Taji Abraham, who is a doctor of veterinary sciences (her husband Bijou is a software engineer).

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It's in the genes

"We are happy that his grandparents who are heart patients (both retired veterinary medical PhD doctors) were able to see him graduate with a biomedical engineering degree and start his PhD in the same field," she said

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Ahead of times

Abrahams discovered that Tanishq was "a few years ahead even when he was in kindergarden and it just went from there". He was enrolled in the American River Community College after at age five he had cracked math courses offered by Stanford University’s Education Programme for Gifted Youth (EPGY) in less than six months. At six, he took online high school and college level classes in subjects such as chemistry, paleontology, biology, and geology, and at seven, he completed courses in Geology & Astronomy, emerging as the top student in both classes.

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Normal is subjective

By the time he was accepted at UC Davis as a pre-teen, the precocious youngster was the talk of not just academic circles, but also parenting guides. Was he being pushed too hard? Was he going through all the normal experiences of childhood?

"We don’t feel they have missed out on 'normal' child hood. What is normal for some might not be normal for others!" insists Taji Abraham, reeling off the extracurricular activities of Tanishq and his sister Tiara, who is also a prodigy of sorts. "They both have enjoyed being in San Francisco childrens’ choir, both went to swim school for 4 years and got Level 10 certificates, they took part in other sports like soccer lessons, tennis and ping-pong, both enjoy watching Bollywood & Hollywood movies and pretty much know the entire IMDB!"

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Time for rest

"This year has been very hard for him (Tanishq) and us as we also have to be on campus late sometimes till 11 pm when he is working on his design project or capstone project. Sometimes his 22-year-old classmates cannot understand why he cannot do an allnighter! As parents, we are very particular that both our kids get enough rest and sleep — a minimum of 9 hours to 10 hours. But in the past few months in his senior year, it has come down to 3 to 4 hours," said Taji Abraham, sounding the only note of regret in an otherwise frenetic but fulfilling life.

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So what is next for Tanishq?

Tanishq has already been accepted into the UC Davis graduate programme where he plans to get his MD in the next four or five years. But his long term goal, the teenager says unabashedly, is public life — to be the President of the United States, no less.

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