Tullahoma Student Recognized as One of the “Brightest Young Students in the World”

A Tullahoma middle school student, Joaquin Tenaglia Canut has been honored as one the the “brightest young students in the world” according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. Joaquin received this High Honors Award for his “exceptional performance on the SAT, ACT, or similar assessment taken as part of the CTY Talent Search.”

Tenaglia Canut was one of over 16,000 students from 66 countries who tested with the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth in the 2019-20 Talent Search year. “Less than half of CTY Talent Search testers qualify for CTY High Honors Awards.”

It was no short ride, though, arriving at this prestigious honor. According to his parents, Leandro and Laura, Joaquin was born in Rosario, Argentina on April 18th 2009. On March 2012 the whole family, including his parents and sister Camila, moved to Florida due to work.

“By that time he was starting to speak very little Spanish, and in less than a year we discovered that he learned an almost perfect English, just by watching TV, because at home we speak only Spanish.”

At the end of 2013, work moved the family once again, this time to Chicago. “Jaoquin started Kindergarten there when he turned 5 and then the first years of elementary school in Naperville, IL. In 3rd grade, after a very extensive battery of tests, he was identified as Gifted and started a special program on a school dedicated purely to gifted students,” states Jaoquin’s father, Leandro.

Nearing the end of his fourth grade year, the family moved once more, this time to end up in Tullahoma. “That same year, for being in the 99th percentile in all subjects (nationwide) he was admitted in Duke Tip, the talent identification program of Duke University in NC. Starting 5th grade he was tested by TCS, now under the TN criteria, and he was also identified as gifted.” Tenaglia Canut was then admitted in the talent search program of Johns Hopkins University , where he would receive the High Honors award and be cited as one of the brightest kids in the world because of the results of his above grade tests.

At the end of 5th grade he received the Gold Presidential Award for Academic Excellence. Joaquin’s parents state, “On a joint decision between the school and parents, Joaquin skipped 6th grade, going from 5th straight to 7th grade in East Middle School where he’s doing great. Joaquin is a very special kid and all his achievements wouldn’t have been possible without the support of his teachers and school staff”

Tenaglia Canut’s proud parents told Coffee County News, “Joaquin is completely normal kid, super friendly. He likes playing video games and also playing outside with the neighborhood kids.Unlike other gifted kids, he doesn’t like reading or doing homework, never studied and never gets stressed because of tests.”