By Divya Joseph<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t often one finds a child that lights up over getting a graphing calculator for Christmas but Tanishq Abraham, a former Visions in Education student, is no ordinary child. He started taking college classes at American River College at age seven, the youngest person to attend since the school began keeping records. He tested in the 99.99 percentile on I.Q. exams when he was four and has been a part of Mensa since. Currently he is participating in Lifetime Network\u2019s reality television show \u201cChild Genius,\u201d in which 20 gifted children compete over eight weeks for the title of \u201cChild Genius 2014\u201d and a $100,000 college fund.<\/p>\n

Tanishq is a rare package of unusual intelligence wrapped in childlike innocent charm. Aside from the calculator his Christmas list included a book on quantum mechanics and an Ebola lab. Yet Abraham believes in Santa: \u201cI very strongly believe in Santa,\u201d he says with a very firm tone. His mother, Tajji, says that he had even tried to program software to try to track Santa.<\/p>\n

Tajji says she knew right from infancy that Tanishq was unique. She realized when he was three and a half months old that he could point to the right answers for questions she was asking about the storybooks read to him. When he was two years old he was doing kindergarten and first grade math.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to the social aspect Tanishq is just like any other child, happy-go-lucky,\u201d says Tajji, \u201cBut intellectually he was very different. He was very observant and learned concepts in above average speed.\u201d
\nThe Abraham family realized quickly that traditional schooling did not provide Tanishq with the ability to exponentially grow at his pace. \u201dHe was getting very tired of the formal learning system and needed more freedom,\u201d says Tajji, \u201cThis is when we found Visions and he loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Visions style of learning allowed Tanishq to learn at his pace and soon he was enrolled in American River College as the school\u2019s youngest attendee. \u201cMy goal is to have my Ph.D. by the time I get my driver\u2019s license,\u201d Tanishq told the audience during the first episode of \u201cChild Genius.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from his passion for academics, Tanishq has also taken interest in singing. He was training in the San Francisco Boys Chorus, a pretisgious Grammy award-winning concert chorus. He has sung the national anthem at many athletic venues including at San Francisco Giants and Oakland A\u2019s games.<\/p>\n

The result of his intellect, talent and hard work has been a lot of national and international media attention. Tanishq has appeared on \u201cThe Queen Latifah Show,\u201d spoke at a TED conference explaining the exoplanets and supernovas he has already discovered and climate change. He is also the youngest poster presenter and speaker at a NASA conference in NASA Ames. And now, he can be seen on the \u201cChild Genius\u201d show on Lifetime.<\/p>\n

Despite all this attention Tanishq is pretty focused on his goals of excelling in academic discovery and making a difference in the world. \u201cThe great thing about Tanishq is that the attention doesn\u2019t get to his head,\u201d says Tajji \u201cHe is too focused about inventing something or learning more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tajji states that she is very proud of Tanishq and his nine-year-old sister Tiara, who is also a gifted student, for not just their intelligence but their character. \u201c[My husband and I] are proud that they are intelligent kids but above all we want them to be good human beings,\u201d says Tajji.<\/p>\n

Tanishq points out that when just one of his goals is to cure cancer it is evidently hard to get caught up in the media attention. He says that he wants to put his intelligence to good use and make a difference for the world \u201cI want to be President of the United States, doctor and a scientist,\u201d he says. \u201cI just want to make this world a better place.\u201d
\nWatch \u201cChild Genius\u201d at 10\/9c on Lifetime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Divya Joseph It isn\u2019t often one finds a child that lights up over getting a graphing calculator for Christmas but Tanishq Abraham, a former Visions in Education student, is no ordinary child. He started taking college classes at American River College at age seven, the youngest person to attend since the school began keeping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[390,395],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n