Last week's graduation ceremony at the American River College in Sacramento was attended by Tanishq's parents - his mother Taji, a vet², and his father Bijou, a software engineer. His sister Tiara, also a child prodigy, was present as well. They cheered for Tanishq as he was awarded associate degrees in math and physical sciences, general science, and language studies. He wore a rainbow colored scarf that his grandmother had knit specially³ for the occasion, and a cap with his favorite Toy Story-quote: 'To Infinity⁴ and Beyond." 

 

"The assumption is that he's the all-time youngest," said college spokesman Scott Crow. "But we don't have all the archives to completely confirm. He was definitely the youngest this year." 

 

Tanishq said that he wasn't intimidated⁵ by the fact that his classmates were all twice his age, especially because he was well-received. "A lot were really happy that there was a kid in their class," he said. And his parents were pretty low-key about the whole affair, being used to all his accomplishments⁶ since a young age. "Even in kindergarten, he was a few years ahead," Taji said. "It just went from there." 

 

"The way my brain works is that when you give me something, information about that topic comes into my mind. 'I don't know what it is," Tanishq revealed. 

 

Interestingly, Tanishq has been home-schooled by his mother, who put her own career on hold to teach him. He's also been taking classes at the American River College since he was seven years old. He joined Mensa International - a group of people whose IQ is in the top two percent of the population - at the age of four. His sister also joined Mensa at the age of 4, making them the youngest siblings⁷ to join the high-IQ society. 

 

In order to join Mensa, one needs to score in or above the 98 percentile on a Mensa-approved standardized⁸ IQ test. Tanishq scored 99.9 percentile and Tiara scored 99 percentile on the test. 

 

You'd think that Tanishq is probably done with books for his life, but he actually has no plans to stop learning. "I want to become a doctor," he said after the ceremony. "But I also want to become a medical researcher, and also the president of the United States." In a tweet, he revealed that he hopes to win the Nobel Prize some day in medicine or research. In the meantime, he plans to spend his summer on a family vacation and a Calculus⁹ II course.

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