Thomas Suarez is 12 years old and he’s already got what colleges are looking for.
He loves to learn. He not only taught himself to program computers in two different languages, but when Apple released the iPhone software development kit, he went right to work learning how to make apps.
He makes things happen. He created “Bustin Jieber”—a Justin Bieber Whac-a-Mole app for the iPad and iPhone—and persuaded his parents to pay the $99 to get the app on the App Store. It’s .99 and I can tell you it’s pretty addicting.
He shares his talents. He started an “App Club” at school where any student can come to learn how to design an app. And any teacher who wants to learn, too, is more than welcome to join. He’s also part of the iPad Pilot Program that works with teachers to create apps that will be made free to districts. Any sales of the apps will go into the districts’ educational funds.
And last October, he was invited to give a talk at a TED Conference. He’s 12 years old and he’s already making me feel inferior. It’s hard not to be impressed.
People could write off what he's doing as an exception, a tech prodigy who got lucky. But the truth is that while he’s obviously smart, what he really has working for him is motivation. As he says in his talk, it’s easy for kids to play games. But it’s not easy to learn how to make them. He’s trying to change that. He was willing to take the time to learn what interested him and take it to a logical extreme. And he seems to be having a great time doing it.
You can see his TED talk here: