“And all four of them went on to become chief student marshals here at Southern,” Bagayoko says, referring to the honor reserved for the graduate with the highest cumulative grade point average.
Stewart also credits the HBCU Upsmart Pre-College Algebra program offered by Southern University’s Mathematics Department with helping to develop his math skills so that he could excel on the ACT.
His father, Polite Stewart Sr., says he first realized that there was something special about his son when he displayed a prowess at reading, writing and mathematics at age 3. A short time later, he noticed his son reading a 1,000-page book about dinosaurs.
“A couple of weeks later, I asked him about it, and he started telling me what he had read in detail. I told my wife, and she went and asked him some questions, and came back and said, ‘Wow!’” recalls Stewart Sr., an alumnus of Southern University.
Stewart may be the smartest 14-year-old kid in town, but he still mows the lawn, takes out the garbage, and does chores around the house. He also likes to play video games and play sports, but concedes that he has little time for them after his school work. Still, he finds time to tutor kids at Greater Mount Carmel Baptist Church, where he sings in the choir.
This summer, he’s enrolled in three freshman classes at Southern University: general psychology, freshman composition and honors colloquium. Once he finishes his undergraduate work in biology at Southern, Stewart plans to attend medical school, but hasn’t decided where or what field of medicine to pursue.
“I’m thinking about becoming a surgeon,” he says.
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