California girl, 11, becomes college graduate - beating local record set by brother who's now applying for his doctorate aged 12

An 11-year-old girl is set to become a college's youngest ever graduate - breaking a record that was previously held by her older brother. 

Athena Elling will graduate cum laude from Irvine Valley College on Thursday with an associate's degree in liberal arts. 

She will become the college's youngest ever graduate, breaking her older brother Tycho's record by seven months. 

Athena Elling will graduate cum laude from Irvine Valley College, California, on Thursday with an associate's degree in liberal arts

Athena told The Orange County Register: 'I know I’m supposed to say that learning is its own reward and it really kind of is, but also, as a second child, beating my older brother is kind of everything.' 

The 11-year-old now has her sights set on becoming an allergist - or an actor.  

Athena applied for courses at IVC before being admitted as a full-time student at the community college. 

She said her favorite courses have been literature with professor Melissa Knoll.

She told The Register: 'My literature classes with Dr. Knoll introduced me to up-and-coming authors like Ling Ma and also introduced me to books like M.T. Anderson’s Feed, which felt like a frightening prediction of what our lives might be like if we become too addicted to technology.' 

She has also enjoyed abnormal psychology, Python coding, voice and diction and biology.

Her parents have joked that her favorite class is always the one she has just finished. 

Athena said: 'My parents say that I should have a moratorium on declaring one major because whatever class I just finished is almost always my favorite class.' 

She said her favorite courses have been literature with IVC professor Melissa Knoll (right) and theater arts with professor Andrew Levy (left)

She is also trying her hand at acting and modelling, she said: 'I love that in modeling and acting, you are only as good as your most recent self-tape or audition. (Athena, pictured here with her mom, far left)

She added: 'There are still so many classes I want to take. 

'I am signed up for more history and music classes over the summer, I have started on calculus and I think there are probably at least 30 more classes I really want to take before I am ready to commit to another major.'

Her brother Tycho graduated from IVC last year with an associate's degree in mathematics. 

Since then, he has been taking mathematics courses at UC Irvine, and will now start applying to doctoral programs. 

In an interview with the Register last year, Tycho said: 'You can learn addition or calculus, and then later on in number theory or elementary analysis, you relearn them in fun and different ways.'

He's never noticed being younger than his classmates, he said: 'With the pandemic and online classes, all of the cameras were off, and everyone thought I was just a normal student taking the class.'

Their mother, Christina Chow said: 'I don’t think we realized we were on this journey. I think every step of the way we have been like, ‘He says he likes math,’ but we never realized it was going to be a journey.' 

When she's not studying, Athena enjoys sketching, soap-making and is a second-degree black belt in taekwondo.

Her brother Tycho graduated from IVC last year with an associate's degree in mathematics, he is now applying for doctoral positions

She also looks after her pets: two rescue chinchillas, several chickens, and a king snake. 

She is also trying her hand at acting and modelling, she said: 'I love that in modeling and acting, you are only as good as your most recent self-tape or audition.

'The bad news is that anything you accomplished last week is already in the past. It also means that if an audition did not go well, there is hopefully still another chance, another audition.'

Chow said she has always been independent. 

Chow said that whatever she chooses to do next, 'she wants to be the best at whatever it is.'