A 3-year-old genius girl named Declan Lopez Nadzim has become the youngest American to join the organization of people with high IQ – Mensa, after scoring over 99% on her entry test.
Declan, a New Jersey teen who is in Kindergarten at Dennis B. O’Brien Elementary, United States recently became a member of Mensa, the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world with an IQ of 138.
Mensa is an organization of intelligent persons across the world. To qualify for Mensa membership, applicants must take an approved intelligence test and score at or above the 98th percentile.
Despite being in Kindergarten, Declan is already reading on a third or fourth-grade level. She mentioned that she is interested in arts, science, and motion.
“My favorite thing to learn is a force in motion. I’m interested in arts, science, math, and geography,” she told NJ News. Declan’s mother, Meachel Lopez said that she initially thought Declan was speaking gibberish until she took a closer listen.
“I didn’t know what she was saying but then we realized it was from the cartoons, the learning videos we’d play for her on YouTube. She’d picked it up.”, Meachel said. “We were on a trip in the airport, and she just started to count in Mandarin,” she added.
Meachel said ever since then, she and her dad have come up with an activity chart to keep the active 6-year-old intellectually stimulated while allowing her to be a kid. ”I want her to laugh and joke and make mistakes and do things that 6-year-olds do,” she said.
Declan’s preschool teacher, Vicki Vigorito, the director of The Learning Experience in Denville said she was amazed at how smart the six-year-old is. “Some of her interests and abilities left me with my jaw dropped,” Vickii said.
”She was so advanced at math, would draw body parts that were, you know, anatomically correct and she’d remember everybody’s first and last name,” she added.
Because of her smartness, Declan continues her studies at home alongside her mother, focusing on the periodic table, division and multiplication, and world geography each day after school.
Even though she is in Kindergarten, her teachers have tried to keep her busy with robotics and computer coding. She also sometimes walks around the classroom to help other students with their work.