Krishna García-Martínez started taking classes at Santa Barbara City College when he was just 10 years old. Now, he is the college’s youngest graduate at 13 years old with honors and two liberal arts degrees. 

“It’s the culmination of years of hard work,” García-Martínez said. “I’ve put in lots of effort, and logged days and months on the computer working hard on my classes.”

On Friday, García-Martínez will graduate with two associate’s degrees: one for arts and humanities, and one for science and mathematics. However, his time at SBCC isn’t over. García-Martínez plans to return in the fall to work toward an associate’s degree in mathematics. 

While it might seem unusual for someone so young to take college classes, more and more students are choosing to take college classes while they’re still in high school.

During the 2022-23 school year, 3,115 students from the Santa Barbara Unified School District were taking dual-enrollment classes at SBCC. That same year, 40% of all ninth-graders in the district were in dual enrollment, according to Jordan Killebrew, an SBCC spokesman.  

“Krishna is certainly advanced beyond his years,” SBCC Superintendent/President Erika Endrijonas said. “He had the foresight to invest in his education when he was 10 and began taking advantage of courses at SBCC. As an educator, his curiosity and spirit in learning are refreshing and remarkable.”

García-Martínez said his interests right now are broad; he enjoys science, engineering, ethnic studies and more. He plans to narrow down what he wants to do once he transfers to a four-year university in three years. He hopes to transfer to UC Santa Barbara or Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

“There’s so much to do in one’s life, and there’s really a lot that I know I’m capable of,” García-Martínez said. “Eventually, I’ll start narrowing it down, but right now I’m starting basic.”

Outside of his classes at SBCC, García-Martínez is independently home-schooled and is learning at a 12th-grade level.

Marc García-Martínez noticed early on in his son’s life that he had an eidetic memory — similar to a photographic memory — and a passion for learning.

In January 2020, the father connected with a professor teaching a class about dinosaurs, who allowed his son to audit the class.  

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, García-Martínez decided he would start taking classes at SBCC that fall. He started out taking just one class a semester and slowly worked his way up to taking four classes a semester. 

“My little boy is the real thing — highly intelligent, very respectful, ever-curious, endlessly imaginative and always friendly,” Marc García-Martínez said. “I feel such overwhelming admiration for him and profound gratitude that he is in my life.”

García-Martínez did have a few challenges as a young student, such as managing his schedule and being denied an English course because the department said students had to be at least 16 years old to take it, but García-Martínez just took the course at another community college. 

García-Martínez said professors were often impressed to see someone so young in their classes but that they treated him equally, like any other student. According to his mom, Sara Boyd, there was only one time they asked a professor to swap an assignment for something more age-appropriate. 

García-Martínez said his favorite class that he’s taken so far was Earth 106, a class about black holes taught by Erin O’Conner. 

“That was one of the most enthusiastic moments of my life, learning about that,” García-Martínez said. 

Boyd said she and García-Martínez’s father are in disbelief over his accomplishments, but incredibly proud. 

“From very early on, it was clear that he had an incredible aptitude for not just learning, but holding on to that knowledge, and he just had this capacity to just take in more and had an enthusiasm and curiosity to learn more,” Boyd said.

Boyd said they were cautious at first to let him take college classes because of how young he was, but they knew he was smart enough to handle it.

“He really wanted to do it. We never pushed him. We just encouraged him and guided him along the way,” Boyd said. “In the past two and a half years that he’s been doing this, he’s really matured a lot.” 

Boyd believes in her son’s bright future, not just because of how smart he is but because of his work ethic. 

“I really believe that he’s got a good future ahead of him, and not just because he’s smart and gifted but because he knows it takes work and he wants to do the work,” Boyd said. “He is motivated, he wants to learn and wants to keep going and doesn’t want to take any shortcuts.” 

García-Martínez said he doesn’t know what the future has in store for him but that he’s determined to keep working hard and inspire others.

“I think if I keep working hard and keep being inspired that everything will work out,” García-Martínez said. “Then I can use what I know and make this world a better place and have a good career and inspire others.”