Mike Wimmer from Salisbury, North Carolina is going to graduate high school and college in the same year, and he did it all at just 12 years old.
FOX 5 NY reports that Wimmer is going to graduate high school this year with a 5.45 GPA, and he’s set to earn his associates degree with a 4.0 GPA when he graduates from college in May. He started the process when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the majority of Americans to remain indoors last year, finishing four years of education in an impressive 12-month period. He attended the Concord Academy High School, and Rowan-Cabaarrus Community College.
"With COVID, of course being locked in, I figured out, hey, might as well take some more classes, right? So I actually did four years of school in one," said the 12-year-old. "I just did it at a much faster pace. I did my junior and senior year of high school along with my first two years of college for my associate’s degree at the same time. Using dual enrollment classes at both places also. It was kind of a, hey, if I take a few more classes I can get an associate’s degree. Why not?"
His parents, Mark and Melissa, said that they knew Mike was smart from an early age because a doctor tested him prior to sending him to preschool and told them he had an abnormally high IQ for his age. When he was four, he was inducted to MENSA, a high IQ society dedicated to supporting “profoundly intelligent young people.”
"My parents did not push me in any way, shape or form, academically, at all. And they didn’t push me like, ‘Hey, you’re going to do good in school and you’re going to be a doctor or a lawyer or whatever.’ They really let me flourish and find my own pace and my own path," added Mike. "Supported on whatever I wanted."
As for his future, Mike Wimmer could either further continue higher education, or choose to focus on his two start-up companies. “I actually have a startup now," he said. "Reflect Social is my current startup. I had Next Era Innovations first. I sold robotic applications around the world for NAO Robot and I also developed microphones for the NAO Robot because you really couldn’t hear him very well if I took him into, let’s say a classroom or a meeting or whatever."
Talk about showing off.
