When people joke a la “what were YOU doing at XYZ age,” it’s usually funny because it makes us reassess every life decision up until that moment to pinpoint exactly what we could’ve done to achieve such a thing early on as well. That is not the case with 8-year-old Adhara Pérez. This child is a genius, y sorry pero not everyone’s got that down. The young Mexican girl holds the knowledge of an intellectually advanced human more than three times her age and has already accomplished more than many people ever will. To put things in perspective, her IQ is reportedly 162 – two points greater than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Pérez and her family learned of her endowment thanks to a psychiatrist that saw signs of gifting and encouraged them to go to the Center for Attention to Talent (CEDAT in Spanish), where they conducted an IQ test and confirmed the hunch.
Now, Pérez is studying in college-level classes. Specifically, she’s undertaking online classes at Industrial Engineering in Mathematics at UNITEC and Systems Engineering by CNCI.
Her story is a testimony of strength and a lesson in the harm of prejudice for all who doubted and even bullied her at her early age. According to Yahoo! News, Pérez was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome at the age of 3. She allegedly faced bullying and discrimination in school due to her condition. She touches on that and the rest of her story thus far in her book (yes, she’s an author as well!), “No Te Rindas.”
Now, Pérez is on Forbes’ list of the 100-most powerful women in Mexico. Her future plans include becoming an astronaut and participating in the exploration of the moon. Sign me up! I trust this genius child from Tláhuac with my life.