Alisa Perales graduated from Crafton Hills College, a California community college, at the tender age of 11, in science and math. She is the youngest at the college and among the youngest in the state’s history to receive the Associate Degree. Alisa will continue her studies at one of the University of California campuses where she has already gained admission. “This is a really exciting time to graduate and prepare for my future,” Alisa said.
The path to graduation began 10 years ago when her single father, Rafael Perales, noticed his daughter’s natural academic aptitude. Rafael always supported her, “I wanted to see what my daughter could do by devoting herself to learning full time. It was not an easy choice, but it was worth it.”
Her computer programming teacher, Sandra Ruiz, also said enthusiastically, “It was the first time I had such a young student. Working with her, I discovered that she is an extraordinary student, with great creativity and capable of very sharp reasoning despite her age.”
In college, Alisa studied 35 hours a week, regardless of the course, while also actively collaborating with the programming team and with the guidance of Ruiz.
The father recounted that, at only two and a half years old, Alisa could already read on her own. By age three, she had reached the upper elementary school level of writing, knew multiplication tables, and understood the concept of division. By the age of eight, she had completed all the courses required by the state to graduate from high school.
Crafton Hills College released a statement April 16 celebrating Alisa’s achievement. However, after the media broke the news, some online commentators criticized the course, calling on Perales to “let children be children” or wondering what the ultimate goal was.
Perales responded to the criticism by calling it absurd and misplaced, emphasizing how natural this path has been for his daughter, a sunny, easygoing and cheerful girl who often makes new friends. “People were afraid that she might be awkward or not sociable, but that is completely wrong,” he said.
Alisa dreams of working with artificial intelligence for aerospace industry giant SpaceX.
