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Updated: 7:13 PM May 18, 2009
14-year-old graduates with honors from Purdue University
Michigan City, IN It’s the time of year when many 14-year-olds celebrate the end of high school’s freshman year. But one Michigan City 14-year-old has just celebrated finishing college. Posted: 6:57 PM May 18, 2009Reporter: Nick McGurk Email Address: nick.mcgurk@wndu.com |
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It’s the time of year when many 14-year-olds celebrate the end of high school’s freshman year. But one Michigan City 14-year-old has just celebrated finishing college.
Tyamo Okosun started taking college classes when he was 8 years old at Purdue University-North Central in Westville. He then transferred to Purdue-Calumet, where he studied mechanical engineering and graduated with honors on Sunday.
“It’s no small feat,” said Okosun, chuckling. “Considerable achievement to graduate from college.”
Okosun isn’t finished, either. He’s been admitted into graduate school to study mechanical engineering at Purdue in West Lafayette.
His academic journey began long ago. Even before birth, his father—T.Y. Okosun, a professor at Northeastern Illinois University—began the teaching process.
"He developed a contraption, he strapped my mom’s stomach while I was in utero, and he would play back tapes of stuff he had recorded of language and physics and chemistry,” said Tyamo.
That contraption was just the beginning.
T.Y. Okosun was engineering a unique brand of home-schooling for his two sons.
“I said this is something I can contribute to, not just the United Staes but to the world, as getting people to start thinking about what children can do intellectually," T.Y. said.
Not only is Tyamo a college graduate – his 11-year-old brother is a college student, too.
The days heve been long for parents and kids alike, and the family has logged thousands of miles driving between home and campus. Tyamo says all of it—the home schooling, the studying, the commuting—has been worth it.
"I don't feel socially inadequate, I have friends, so I don't think I’ve missed out on anything," he said.
By 18, Tyamo says his goal is to be finished with graduate studies and to work for a company like Boeing.
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