{"id":21070,"date":"2025-04-22T12:39:41","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T16:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=21070"},"modified":"2025-04-22T12:39:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T16:39:41","slug":"i-just-enjoy-learning-10-year-old-ready-to-graduate-from-college-with-two-degrees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/04\/i-just-enjoy-learning-10-year-old-ready-to-graduate-from-college-with-two-degrees.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI just enjoy learning.\u201d 10-Year-Old Ready to Graduate From College With Two Degrees"},"content":{"rendered":"
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California Community Colleges \/ Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa, CA is celebrating a 10-year-old student who will be graduating with not one but two degrees this May. Alisa Perales will just have turned 11 when she accepts the diplomas for her associates degrees in multiple sciences and another in mathematics. She will also be graduating with a near-perfect 4.0 GPA. \u201cUnlock Your Potential at Any Age,\u201d California Community Colleges announced on Facebook<\/a>, featuring an image of Perales.<\/p>\n

Naturally a 10-year-old graduating from college has an exceptional learning history. Perales learned to read at 2 and began doing algebra at age 5. She was 8 when she began taking classes at college. For Perales, however, all this learning isn\u2019t just work. \u201cIt\u2019s very fun to me,\u201d she told a local station<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s almost as fun as playing outside or riding a bike or doing whatever. I just enjoy learning. There\u2019s so many interesting things out there.\u201d Perales was homeschooled and admitted to being nervous about attending college. \u201cWhen I first started at Crafton, I was a little bit nervous\u2026because this was my first time going to a public school but then I met some really nice people, and that was super helpful,\u201d she said<\/a>. She credited her father, Rafael, for taking charge of her education. \u201cShe has been a little different her whole life, but I have always taught her that there\u2019s nothing out there that you\u2019re not capable of understanding,\u201d said her father.<\/p>\n

Rafael\u2019s support continued once Parales attended the community college, with Rafael even waiting for Alisa outside of her classes when she first began attending the college. \u201cBefore she started at Crafton, I explained that she was going to be around many older kids, and she didn\u2019t seem intimidated by that,\u201d said Rafael. \u201cShe seemed to fit right in. So, I just followed my daughter\u2019s lead. I did not make her adhere to a rigorous schedule I had set out for her. I responded to what she was interested in and helped feed that interest and fueled that fire, and her interest in school remained strong.\u201d During her time at school, Alisa took her knowledge and filed a lawsuit to argue that she should have the right to vote due to her educational pursuits. Although she lost the battle, it was a time to put her learning in action.<\/p>\n

Alisa has applied to Stanford. She hopes to work in the artificial intelligence industry after graduating. She described what it takes to achieve such a major milestone. \u201cCrafton wants everyone to succeed, but you have to work hard to get what you want,\u201d she said. \u201cDo not ever have any doubts over what you want to do in life. Just go out there and give it a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa, CA is celebrating a 10-year-old student who will be graduating with not one but two degrees this May. Alisa Perales will just have turned 11 when she accepts the diplomas for her associates degrees in multiple sciences and another in mathematics. She will also be graduating with a near-perfect 4.0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":21073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cI just enjoy learning.\u201d 10-Year-Old Ready to Graduate From College With Two Degrees<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"10-year-old Alisa Perales graduates with two degrees, proving that potential knows no age.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/04\/i-just-enjoy-learning-10-year-old-ready-to-graduate-from-college-with-two-degrees.html\" \/>\n<meta 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