A hard-working high school student in Richardson, Texas is set to graduate his high school with eight associate degrees and will receive gubernatorial honors for doing so as he moves on to further pursue his goals in the field of engineering. 

According to CNN, 16-year-old Joshua Chari's ability to earn eight degrees while still attending high school was the result of "the Richardson Independent School District's dual credit program, where qualifying students can garner credit for both high school and college at the same time."

The Texas Legislature has passed House Resolution 80 in Joshua's honor recognizing his accomplishments and states "be it further resolved, that an official copy of this resolution be prepared for Mr. Chari as an expression of high regard by the Texas House of Representatives."

Chari will move on with full scholarship to The University of Texas at Dallas and will continue to pursue biomechanical engineering, according to the article.

Already, he has completed experience in the field by participating in an academic internship "Currently, he's wrapping up an internship at Marlow Industries, which focuses on thermoelectric heating, cooling, power generation and energy harvesting products."

His father Raj Chari, who is overwhelmingly proud of their his son's dedication, attributes Joshua's success to being exposed to the sciences at an early age, a belief that is popularly held as the country pushes nationwide interest in STEM studies.

"From an early age, [the Chari family] had subscriptions to science magazines geared toward kids, such as National Geographic Kids and Kids Discovery, along with publications like Scientific American, Raj Chari said," according to the article.

Despite all the hard work and intense studying, his family insists that he lives a normal, teenage life and has separate interests such as race cars and gaming.

Read more about Joshua's story here and comment below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

05/22/2015