By two years old, she was reading. By four years old, she knew how to multiply. Now at 14, Oforitsenere Bodunrin is a high school graduate, following in her sister’s footsteps. The North Texas native graduated from Martin High School in Arlington last week. The city of Arlington posted a video online showing the 14-year-old walking across the stage at Globe Life Field and receiving her diploma.
“Oforitsenere Bodunrin was only 10 when she started her freshman year at Martin High School, but that didn’t stop her from making the most of her time and excelling,” the city tweeted, adding that she graduated at the top of her class.
“‘(It’s) very exciting because I guess I’ve kind of waited four years for this,” Bodunrin said in the video posted on Twitter. “I don’t really like to draw attention to myself but it was definitely fun.”
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Bodunrin showed that she was an extremely intelligent kid growing up. “It was some traits that we saw that was really different,” her mother Bawo Bodunrin said to WAFB. “The way she works. Normally you would say the sky is the limit. For her, the sky is the beginning.”
In spite of her achievement, Bodunrin didn’t have it easy when she first started high school. Surrounded by classmates who were much older, she found it difficult to open up until one of her teachers, Gerri Brown, supported and guided her, according to the Arlington Independent School District.
Now being able to fit in, Bodunrin became president of Key Club and editor of her school’s paper. She also served as a historian for the Black Student Union (BSU), a Future Business Leaders of America state finalist, president of the Filmmaker’s Society and historian for the National Art Honors Society, her school district said. One of her AP teachers, Elizabeth Osbourne, did not even know her age until one of her classmates told her. “I think she’s an outstanding example of what humility and hard work can earn you,” Osbourne said.
Curiously, Bodunrin is not the only person in her family to receive her diploma at a young age. Her older sister also graduated from high school at 14. “She mirrored her sister. So, everything her sister was doing, she wanted to do as well,” her mother Bawo Bodunrin told WAFB.
The teen now plans to attend the University of Texas at Arlington in the fall to study computer science and aviation.
