14-year-old whiz kid is college junior

Jet, Nov 17, 1997

Vincent Gibson Jr. says that he is just a regular teenager. The 14-year-old junior at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham, NC, is considered a genius to others.

Gibson was in the sixth grade when he took his first college class. He continued to take courses as a special student at NCCU, where he absorbed such an astronomical amount of information that he was able to complete four years of high school in just a year. The young marvel passed his state competency tests and scored 950 on the college entrance exam.

"I don't think of myself as smart. I just catch on quickly," Gibson, who is majoring in biology and math, explains to JET about his abilities. "I was born like this. I know that this isn't normal, but I don't look at myself as extraordinary. I see myself as Vincent-just a regular 14-year-old."

Cynthia Bizzell, Gibson's mother, says she's always known that her son "had the gift of intelligence." She admits that she has encountered difficulties trying to convince others of his wit.

"People thought I was exaggerating about how smart he was. They thought I was crazy for trying to put an 11-year-old in college," laughs Bizzell, 34. "Once he started taking classes and proved himself, everyone was totally amazed. They saw that he was really interested in learning."

When NCCU's chancellor agreed to allow Gibson to take classes there, he didn't let anything stand in his way. The determined youngster attended morning classes at his grade school and then walked to NCCU's campus to take his evening classes.

"Most people thought my mother was taking the class," recalls Gibson of his first college course, Black Experience to 1865. "The teacher was passing out stuff, and he just looked a me for a while. He asked where my mother was. I told him I was taking the class. Everyone was shocked. It was an experience to remember."

What's more memorable for Gibson about his college experience is that his mother also attends NCCU. Bizzell says that she was in college 14 years ago when she became pregnant with Vincent and decided to leave school. Now the two attend the same university, and this semester they have their first class together, Programming 1: C .

"To sit in class with him is not strange for me. I wish I had his capability," concedes Bizzell. "It's like we work together almost. He has his job and I have mine, but I still have a position as his mother."

Continues Gibson, "I was shocked when I found out my mother was going to be in my class. I thought she was going to be telling me this and telling me that. She didn't. We both do our job."

The two study together at home. They've found that one's weakness is the other's strength. "I'm not that creative. English is my worst subject. I love math and biology. My mother helps me with English because that's one of her favorite subjects," he observes.

Because Gibson chose to do home schooling at North Carolina's Alternative Home School once he entered high school, he says that many worried that he might be robbing himself of a valuable social experience.

"You don't miss what you never had. To me college is like a big high school. I have friends my age as well as friends at college. Most people bring up my missing the prom and things of that nature. I went to the Alpha (Phi Alpha) Ball [with a girl his age], which was sort of like a prom. So I haven't missed anything," states Gibson, who received his high school diploma last year.

The gifted teen says that he doesn't get preferential treatment from his colleagues or professors. He believes that college hasn't forced him to grow up too quickly.

"Some people say I'm very mature, and some people say I still act like a 14-year-old. I still joke and giggle around. Some people say I act goofy," chuckles Gibson, who tutors the boys' basketball team at Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham.

Attending medical school at either Morehouse College in Atlanta or Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore so that he can become an emergency room surgeon is Gibson's future plan. He says by the time he becomes a doctor, he's hopeful "people will know my capabilities and will not base me on my age but on my accomplishments."

Adds Gibson, "I just look at it as a gift from God. I can't say anything else. God blessed me with a gift and I'm using it "