Nea Student Making Giant Educational Strides Before Even Graduating

By Brendan Doherty

John Love, an unassuming 17-year old has made the most of his time in
school. Technically a junior at Nea Community Learning Center, Love will graduate from high school on June 14 — a year early.

In addition, three weeks before graduating from high school, he earned his Associate Arts degree in Social and Behavioral Science from College of Alameda.

During his time at Nea, he also completed an internship at the Chabot Space and Science Center, and is a member of Alameda CERT (Community Emergency Response Team).

Love also completed his Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum, meaning that when he begins college, he will enroll as a freshman with 60 UC units and jump to junior status.

The accomplished student will attend UC Berkeley this fall, and plans to study astrophysics and hopes to do an interdisciplinary studies degree in astrobiology,
perhaps even a double major in math.

“I want to be a researcher and developer in the field of astrobiology, and work on technologies that would further our reach in the solar system, and galaxy,” Love said. “Such as designing and construction of exoplanetary colonies.”

Love’s parents are happy for the young man.

“We’re proud of his hard work and accomplishments,” mother Maria Love said. “He was a challenging child who has grown into a wonderful young man. We are excited that he will have the opportunity to have all the great minds at Cal to ask all the questions that he is always asking.”

Love took advantage of the project-based learning model at Nea, taking his
first college class while attending the eighth grade. John was also a key member of the award-winning engineering teams from Nea which won regional
robotics and bridge building competitions.

“John Love is a bright young man with a love for learning and science, and
he has a very bright future ahead of him,” said Maafi Gueye, lead
facilitator and upper village lead at Nea Community Learning Center.

“The way Nea is structured, I learned a lot about time management,”
Love said. “But also, being able to take classes that interest me rather than
just the standard high school offerings has been great.”