Khaya Njumbe.
Two weeks later, he will walk across the stage to receive his high school diploma, adding one last credential to the collection he’s been building since he was 11 years old, when he took his first dual enrollment courses. He would go on to earn three associate degrees in general studies, liberal arts, and biology.
These degrees allowed Njumbe the opportunity to transfer to a four-year institution to study for his bachelor’s degree, said Dr. Jack Bloom, a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at IU and one of Njumbe’s instructors.
“The rule is you can’t go to college until you have a high school degree. Now, let me say, that’s a rule which is not meant for some people,” said Bloom. “He’s a pretty impressive kid.”
Bloom first got to know Njumbe in his two upper-level courses, "Race and Ethnic Relations" and "The Civil Rights Movement". At first, Bloom assumed Njumbe was like any other high schooler taking one of his courses through dual credit. But as the months went by, Bloom was struck by Njumbe’s level of participation, interest, and analysis.
“I’m a sociologist but also an historian, so I go through the history of race in America starting with the genocide of Native Americans, slavery, and trying to explain how slavery worked, how powerful slave holders were at the time, all that. What I didn’t really realize at first was that he was very struck by this,” said Bloom. “He’s 15 years old. He reads all this stuff, he hears it, and he understands it. He makes good, trenchant questions.”
Njumbe’s parents always knew their son was different. He was reading flashcards and reciting words from Your Child Can Read! DVDs at 13 months old. They struggled to find the right school for him in which he could excel, even homeschooling him for a period of time.
