As students stroll around the halls this year, some may notice a student who seems a bit younger than most. Freshman Deonte Hall is in his first year of high school after previously skipping two grades.
Hall’s parents traveled from Jamaica to the United States, but a different fact about Hall is what usually grabs other people’s attention.
Hall is 13 years old. He skipped not only his kindergarten year, but also the second grade, yet he still gets straight A’s in his classes.
“When I first skipped a grade, I was nervous and a little scared because I was going to be around kids older and bigger than me,” said Hall. “At first, being the youngest one was a little intimidating, but over the years I’ve gotten so used to it that sometimes I forget that I’m younger.”
Hall took Algebra 1 in sixth grade, Geometry in seventh grade and Algebra 2 in eighth grade. He is currently taking Calculus in his first year of high school. To get a better grip on where his “math path” will lead him, Hall explained which math classes he plans to take later in high school.
“As of now, I am in my first year of Calculus,” Hall said. “Next year, I will be taking the second year of calculus. After that, I am on track to take Multi-variable Calculus.”
Hall also enjoys basketball and soccer in his free time. Like school, Hall plays these sports on teams with people who are older than him.
“I have been playing both of these sports since I was very young, and I think I’ve gotten pretty good at them,” said Hall. “At a very young age, I was playing these sports at a high level with kids older than I was, but the school environment made it easier to adapt to older people in sports.”
Leading a life different from the majority of others, Hall credits his success in adapting to the older and harder environments he faces each day to his personality and all of the older kids who have treated him equally throughout the years.
“It is really fun being a freshman and being around high scholars makes me think about how lame my life could have been if I was with my age group,” said Hall.