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Eleven year-old earns three degrees one year after finishing high school

Some day, Tanishq Abraham wants to be a medical researcher, a doctor, and president of the United States. 

  • By Meredith Hamilton Staff writer

At eleven years old, most American kids are finishing 5th grade and nervously anticipating middle school.

Eleven-year-old Tanishq Abraham just earned three associate degrees, an admirable accomplishment for anyone, let alone a pre-teen. 

A native of Sacramento, California, Tanishq crossed the commencement stage at American River College on Wednesday to accept degrees in math, science, and language studies. 

He told NBC affiliate KCRA that he wasn't very nervous when he started taking courses at ARC, so graduating college wasn't "much of a big thing." On his Twitter account, he tweeted "4 yrs later-3 college degrees-Vry HAPPY." 

His mother, who put her own PhD studies on hold to homeschool Tanishq said that "even in Kindergarten, he was a few years ahead" and added "we just went from there," as NBC Bay Area reported. 

Tanishq has been a member of Mensa International, an association for people who have scored in the top two percent on an IQ test, since he was four. 

When he was seven he began taking classes at ARC, which enabled him to finish his college degrees just one year after graduating from high school. 

In an NBC Bay Area report from last year covering his high school graduation, his geology teacher, Steve Sterling, said Tanishq "retains difficult concepts better than any other student I've ever had."

However, ultra-early graduation is not without its drawbacks. In the same 2014 NBC Bay Area report, an interview with Tanishq's parents reveals that they made a three-hour round trip commute to San Francisco twice a week so that he could participate in the San Francisco Boys Chorus. They were willing to make the drive because they knew the chorus provided much needed interaction with kids his own age.

Tanishq told a reporter with KCRA-TV: "I like to play video games with my sister." Not so far off from your average American kid.

In the KCRA video coverage, he excitedly lists off all of the careers he wold like to have: medical researcher, doctor, and president of the United States. Tarnishq hopes to go to the University of California-Davis Medical School, according to multiple reports.

His graduation cap was decorated with the words, "to infinity and beyond" in reference to "Toy Story's" Buzz Lightyear. 

Tarnishq told KCRA, "I followed my passion." 

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