IRVINE, Calif. (KABC) — Graduation day for Zora Elling came a lot sooner than most kids her age.
She graduated from Irvine Valley College last week, setting the record for the school’s youngest graduate ever.
“It was a bit scary, but it was also really fun,” said Zora.
The shy 10-year-old unintentionally beat the record first set by her 13-year-old brother Tycho two years ago, and by her 12-year-old sister Athena last year.
“I don’t really care about breaking the record, I just wanted to take the math classes,” said Zora.
Tycho is now graduating from UC Irvine next month with a bachelor’s in mathematics and is set to start the University of Southern California’s Ph.D. program in August.
“Honestly, I haven’t thought too far ahead,” Tycho said. “I’ve just been taking as many classes as possible and doing fun problems.”
Athena is competing in taekwondo and is focused on other things.
“I’m still taking classes at IVC right now,” she said. “Mainly, a lot of theater and dance classes just because now that I graduated, I want to try and branch out.”
Their mother, Cristina Elling, is amazed at their achievements. She stressed there is no secret to their accomplishments. She allows them to chase whatever they like, even if they may fail.
“For Tycho, it was about finding something he liked and then continuing to take classes,” Elling said. “For Athena, it’s that competitive drive. She wanted to beat Tycho.”
“I think the reason Zora beat Tycho’s record is because having watched Tycho go through it, and Athena go through it, we were less scared,” the mother added.
As to what’s next, the Elling siblings believe the sky is the limit.
However, don’t put a label on their milestones.
“We really don’t like using the word ‘genius,’ because it kind of feels like it’s more natural versus we worked for it,” said Athena.
“I think we sort of have this rule that whatever we do, we really do it to our full extent,” she said.
