Khaya Njumbe.
Two weeks later, he’ll stroll throughout the stage to obtain his highschool diploma, including one final credential to the gathering he’s been constructing since he was 11 years previous, when he took his first twin enrollment programs. He would go on to earn three affiliate levels basically research, liberal arts, and biology.
These levels allowed Njumbe the chance to switch to a four-year establishment to check for his bachelor’s diploma, mentioned Dr. Jack Bloom, a professor within the Division of Sociology and Anthropology at IU and certainly one of Njumbe’s instructors.
“The rule is you may’t go to school till you may have a excessive faculty diploma. Now, let me say, that’s a rule which isn’t meant for some folks,” mentioned Bloom. “He’s a reasonably spectacular child.”
Bloom first acquired to know Njumbe in his two upper-level programs, “Race and Ethnic Relations” and “The Civil Rights Motion”. At first, Bloom assumed Njumbe was like another excessive schooler taking certainly one of his programs by means of twin credit score. However because the months glided by, Bloom was struck by Njumbe’s stage of participation, curiosity, and evaluation.
“I’m a sociologist but additionally an historian, so I’m going by means of the historical past of race in America beginning with the genocide of Native Individuals, slavery, and making an attempt to elucidate how slavery labored, how highly effective slave holders have been on the time, all that. What I didn’t actually notice at first was that he was very struck by this,” mentioned Bloom. “He’s 15 years previous. He reads all this stuff, he hears it, and he understands it. He makes good, trenchant questions.”
Njumbe’s dad and mom all the time knew their son was totally different. He was studying flashcards and reciting phrases from Your Youngster Can Learn! DVDs at 13 months previous. They struggled to seek out the suitable faculty for him by which he might excel, even homeschooling him for a time frame.
Khaya Njumbe performs piano, which he taught himself at age three.
He lastly discovered a house on the twenty first Century Constitution College in Gary, Indiana, the place he turned a highschool freshman at 11 years previous. Their twin credit score alternatives with Ivy Tech Group Faculty gave him the prospect to jump-start his future.
Njumbe’s potential to show himself and course of new info isn’t simply restricted to math, science, or different STEM programs, which he mentioned are his favourite. He taught himself classical music on the piano between ages 3 and 4. He started instructing himself Mandarin Chinese language due to his curiosity in Taekwondo. In an effort to discover a place that will appropriately problem him, his dad and mom positioned him in a Chinese language faculty, the place classes have been taught solely in Mandarin.
However Njumbe is humble. When requested if he would say he’s fluent within the language, he hesitates.
“In a method I’m fluent, however I nonetheless go [to lessons] each week,” he mentioned. “In the event you don’t use it, you lose it.”
It’s that mixture of self-motivation, dedication, and pure potential that has been key to Njumbe’s early successes on this planet. Njumbe says his final objective is to be an orthopedic surgeon, and if that occurs, Bloom mentioned, his work might flip him right into a “main researcher.”
“There’s no strategy to know, however it’s clear he’s going to have an impression [whatever he does],” mentioned Bloom.
Dr. Jack Bloom, a professor within the Division of Sociology and Anthropology at IU and certainly one of Njumbe’s instructors.
“I can lastly breathe a bit,” mentioned Njumbe.
Together with his new down time, Njumbe will get pleasure from his hobbies, whether or not that’s an previous interest like music, or a brand new one like tumbling. He joined IU’s tumbling workforce simply over a 12 months in the past, and so they cheered him on at his commencement. Afterward, they joined the household and buddy celebratory dinner, performing stunts and jumps outdoors on the asphalt whereas ready for his or her desk.
Bloom mentioned he watched the workforce tumbling, and he nervous that Njumbe would possibly fall and hit his head. As a substitute, Bloom watched him do a backflip effortlessly, impressed by the younger man’s potential to beat all challenges he faces, even gravity.
Liann Herder may be reached at [email protected].
