What'd You Do During Quarantine? A 12 Year Old Is About To Graduate From High School AND College In The Same Month
Mike Wimmer, of Salisbury, North Carolina, is just 12 but on May 21, he is set to graduate from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College — followed by his graduation from Concord Academy High School a week later.
“If one door’s locked, he’ll find out another way around to figure out how to accomplish his goals,” his mother, Melissa Wimmer, told CNN of her son, who decided to enroll in additional courses at school when COVID-19 hit and he found himself with newfound downtime.
Mike didn’t compromise his grades for speedier graduation: The prodigy finished college with a 4.0 GPA and high school with a 5.45 — making him valedictorian.
I think the easy thing to do here would be to make fun of this 12 year old. Mock a young man who decided to bypass the fake life that is college and just get his degree four years before he can think about driving a car. Now don't get me wrong, this kid made a mistake and is for sure an asshole. College life is about to be very back in America with the covid monster seemingly going away and it's not something I'd want to miss if I was in the age range.
I for one am just exhausted reading this guy's accomplishments to get mad at him. I can't tell you one time where I did not save a project or essay for the very last minute in any form of school. There'd always be that one asshole in class who would be done with weeks to go. I'd convince myself that was the next DaVinci and despise his or her existence for the remainder of time. I would start every big project or essay at late as humanly possible. It was a fucking curse. I would defy logic with how fucked of a position I'd put myself in.
In college they told me I would have to change that habit otherwise I was done for. Nope, still refused to change my ways. I'd procrastinate as much as humanly possible until there were just the amount of hours left to get the job done. Just having SportsCenter rolling in the background on repeat in the middle of the night while I worked so much so I would know the next few words that were about to come out of Neil Everett's mouth. Yes, there were multiple moments in college where I didn't think I was getting a diploma. My grandma and aunt died multiple times according to my professors just to buy me time. Then you have this kid who not only graduated high school at age 12, but college too. How? I legit don't know how that's possible. Sure the pandemic forced us inside for a long ass time, but that surely doesn't mean one had the time to pass 8 years worth of school. Now did he graduate from somewhere like Yale? No it's a community college (the key to graduating from any college btw) but still impossible nonetheless.
Here's the biggest issue I have here. The pressure this 12 year old is under is almost too much to conquer. This dude has to become at the minimum the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or it's all a failure. He's basically gotta be the new Elon Musk or it was all for nothing. That's no part of life I need to be living. He's got a 9 year head start on everyone in the workforce and has to make it count. Just go to school like a normal person and watch all the stupid people like me struggle. Expectations are the fucking worst and he's got all of them. With my luck he's probably going to invent a teleportation device and send me to the bottom of the ocean in a few years.