[Video] Eritrean Elementary Student Earns Worldwide Academic Honor

By ABC 6 News | KaalTV


A third grader at Bamber Valley Elementary School is being recognized as one of smartest young students in the world.

“It’s a big memory to me, though, means a lot,” said honoree, Ezra Weldegabriel.

Ezra recently took part in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth Talent Search. In order to qualify for the program, Ezra had to take a standardized test.

“As a second-grader, he was assigned to take a fourth-graders test and be able to excel in that,” said Ezra’s mother, Senait Gebrehiwot.

That is exactly what he did, scoring 97 percent. Ezra was honored as one of the brightest young students in the world for scoring exceptionally high on an above-grade-level test.

“Very few people get this. Only 17 people in Minnesota got this award and probably even fewer got high honors,” said Ezra.

“He’s a very, very bright boy and so I wasn’t surprised at all that he got these high honors,” said Ezra’s third-grade teacher Allison Whalen.

More than 27,000 students from more than 65 countries participated in this year’s CTY talent search. Ezra was invited to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore for an award honor ceremony.

“It was a great experience,” said Ezra.

He now plans on taking the test again when he’s in sixth grade.

“I really want that feeling again,” said Ezra.

Only 25 percent of talent search participants earned the high honors designation.

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