Third grader is one bright student

The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth recognized Gregg Anderson Academy third grader Wesley Smith as one of the brightest young students in the world.

The nonprofit Center for Talented Youth is dedicated to identifying and developing the talents of academically advanced pre-college students around the world, according to a description on its website.

The 8-year-old son of Carleton and Alis

Smith, of Palmdale, received a High Honors award for exceptional achievement on the 201920 School and College Ability Test.

Smith was one of more than 16,000 students from 66 countries who tested with CTY in the 2019-20 Talent Search year. Less than half of the Center for Talented Youth Talent Search testers qualify for the program’s High Honors Awards. Honorees also qualified for summer and online programs, through which bright students can form a community of engaged learners with other bright students from around the world.

Wesley Smith took the test last year as a second grader. He scored in the sixth-grade level in the verbal portion and fourth-grade level in math on the timed computerized test.

“I was very proud of myself and I felt very happy,” he said.

Wesley Smith likes school. His favorite subject is science. He hopes to be an engineer when he grows up.

Asked how he has managed during distance learning, he said his parents give him work, in addition to his school assignments.

“My schoolwork has been easy for me,” Wesley Smith said. “Way lower level than it should be so my parents give me work at my level and that’s how I’ve been getting better.”

The Center for Talented Youth summer programs for bright students are held at 25 sites in

the United States and Hong Kong. Wesley Smith and other students visited a space museum in San Diego.

“Johns Hopkins had a day-long event down there for all the kids that qualified,” Carleton Smith said. “We made a day trip out of it. Wesley had a lot of fun.”

Wesley Smith and the other students did hands-on engineering projects.

At home, his parents give him science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, projects at home.

He won second place in a STEM fair as a kindergarten student. He won first place in first and second grade for his projects, including an underwater robot.

“I really enjoy making things just as well as I take them apart to see how they work,” Wesley Smith said. “I sometimes even take them apart and put them back together with toys that you’re not meant to do it with. I break them on purpose.” He is a member of Mensa. He took a test at six years old and qualified for it.

“We’ve been to two Mensa picnics with Wesley,” Carleton Smith said. “Most of the people there are actually our age. There were about four or five young kids but most of the people are adults.”

Wesley Smith’s hobbies include playing the piano. He also has a new puppy, Zeus, a Border Collie.