When you’re a parent, you often have to meet your kids where they are. Instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, it’s our job to support their interests and encourage them to think outside the box, even in traditional schooling. Or, if your child is “profoundly gifted” like Ronya Balogun’s son David, you have to be ready to smash the box and make a new way forward!
David was in the third grade when his teachers told Ronya and her husband, Henry Balogun, that David was doing much better in school than most of his peers. They said that he should move up a grade or two. In 2020, David’s family chose to find out how smart he was. The results shocked them.
Ronya said, “That’s when we found out that he wasn’t just talented, but very talented.”
David says that the biggest problem he had at his old school was that he was always bored. He needed more of a challenge, and online high school gave him just that. In the year 2020, David signed up to go to the Reach Cyber Charter School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After only three years, the young student finished his course of study and got his diploma.
David wants to learn so much that he might never be satisfied. He says he’s just getting started with getting degrees, even though he’s already finished a semester at Bucks County Community College. Then, he and his family want to go to an Ivy League college. Ronya has already tried to contact Penn, Harvard, and Princeton.
“My favourite subject is learning new things,” said David. “It doesn’t matter if it’s art, math, science, English, or history. I’d love to find out something new. I wanted to study science, be an engineer, and make software.
David has moved on from high school, hoping his story will encourage other high-achieving kids to do the same.
“I think there are a lot of kids like me who could finish school at age 10 or 11,” he said. “But they don’t always have the tools and help they need to be as good as possible.”
Ronya agreed, “I had to break the box to care for my son the right way.”
David is already a member of Mensa, the world’s biggest and oldest high-IQ society, and wants to become an astrophysicist someday. We’re sure he’ll be successful no matter what he does for a living. Good for you, David!
