Big Man on Campus: 12-Year-Old Graduates Community College with 5 Degrees

At just 12 years-old, Clovis Hung has earned five associate degrees from Fullerton College in California.

He is the youngest graduate in the college’s history, beating the record set in 2020 by a 13-year-old graduate, CTV News reported.

Second grade was too mundane for Hung. His mother, Song Hoi, said his son learned one year of mathematics in just three months, UNILAD reported. In 2020, he decided to enroll in Fullerton College. 

“We’re an open-enrolment institution and students that are K through eight – so before graduating high school – they can actually come to Fullerton College under a special process called special admit,” Lisa McPheron, the school’s director of campus communications said.

Hung said it was quite shocking for his classmates to see him in their classes,

“They asked me questions, like how old are you? What are you doing here?” NBC Los Angeles reported. 

He said the students and professors embraced him with open arms and were there to help him. 

Unlike most college students whose hobbies consist of beer pong and tailgating, Hung still made time for Boy Scouts, basketball, and he is expecting to get his pilot’s license at 16.

“I’m not a Tiger Mom, actually it’s the opposite,” his mother told NBC Los Angeles. “Sometimes I just need to remind him to relax, take it easy.”

Hung is a huge history buff, and he has traveled to 23 different countries with his family.

He dreams of becoming a pediatrician, a pilot, or an engineer. 

Since the beginning, Chong has defied the odds. He was born at 27 weeks and weighed less than two pounds.

Chong said he recognized he is gifted but also said he is able to find so much success due to his self- discipline. 

“What I do is that I tell myself that I can do it, you can keep going. You did a very good job,” Hung said.