Nathan Thomas was 18 years and 346 days old when he taught his first course at Miami Dade College in August of 2023. Now he has been officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the youngest male professor —beating a 19-year-old who had held the record for 306 years.
”When I first started one of the things that I was worried about was not being able to get the same amount of respect as, rightfully so, someone that's been teaching for, like, 20, 30 years and that's older or happens to be older,” Nathan told WLRN.
The summer going into kindergarten Nathan tested at a third grade level.
When Nathan began kindergarten he was placed in a first grade gifted class, but his mother, Merlyn Rani Thomas, explained that emotionally, he was uncomfortable.
“ He wanted to blend in, and the little kids would look at him weird because he was going to this big class, he was writing sentences while they were still learning the alphabet,” she said. “ And so the counselor at the school pulled me aside and said, ‘You know, we're doing an injustice to this child. You need to think of something else.'"
After the first six months Nathan spent in public school, he was tested again and he had lost a year, now testing at a second grade level.
When Nathan's parents decided to start homeschooling him, they used unconventional ways to teach and meet the standard of the curriculum, hiring a teacher to help.
His education was structured around project-based learning and real-world experiences, where he studied for no more than an hour to an hour and a half a day.
“If he's learning about money, we take him to the grocery store or shopping and we give him the money and he's gonna learn about taxes,” Rani said. “She took him to the local post office and he learned how the postal system works.”
Nathan was tested again four months after beginning homeschool and he jumped two and a half to three grades.
When Nathan was just 10 years old he started dual enrollment at Miami Dade College, becoming the college’s youngest graduate. But his younger brother Noah took his title when he graduated this past April — three months younger than his brother was.
“The first day we walk into class… I told the professor, ‘You know, I have my son with me, he's gonna be in your class today.’ And she said, ‘He can stay as long as he's quiet.’ And I realize she thinks I'm in the class and I'm bringing my child along, and I'm like, ‘No, no, no, no. I'm not going to be in the class. I'm gonna be outside. He is in your class,'" said Rani.
Nathan's parents made sure to always involve their sons in some sort of activity.
“They emphasized the social aspect of my life, if not more, than the academic side because it, in my opinion and their opinion, it's equally as, if not more, important than the academic stuff,” Nathan said. “I played basketball way more than studying growing up, like way more.”
By the time he was 14 years old he held a high school diploma and associates degree in mathematics. Later, he graduated from Florida International University with a bachelor's degree at 16 years old and master’s degree in electrical engineering at 18 years old.
After graduating Nathan took two years off before planning to attend law school.
”I kinda took the two years off just to have fun and, like, hang out with my friends and just chill. But my personality is like I can't do that for very long. I need to do some work,” he said. “It was never something I planned to do. It was just kinda something that just happened and blossomed during my gap years.”
Most of all, Rani hopes her sons are happy.
“ I want them to do, to the best of their ability, what they can, and help people around them,” she said. “ I hope my kids can inspire others to want to learn and make a difference.”
Nathan continued to teach online while attending his first year of law school at the University of Miami School of Law. However, he won’t be returning to teaching as he enters his second year of law school.
