Opportunity and desire propelled Theenash Kumar to graduate from high school a year early, and on Sunday he joined the Class of 2017 in receiving his diploma from Barrington High School.

“T.K.” as he is known, has fulfilled the requirements to graduate, completing 23 credits and passing his senior project. He had been a member of the junior class and was on course to graduate in 2018, but with the help of his father, educators and some good planning, he went the extra mile to get on the fast track to early graduation.

“Actually, when I got the student handbook as a freshman I studied it and figured out ways to get extra credits and options to get college credits. My dad helped me and together we had a plan,” he said.

T.K. will attend Pennsylvania State University in the fall and has already planned his course selection so he graduates in 3 years.

“I may take the fourth year to get my masters,” he added.

He will study biomedical engineering, majoring in bio-mechanics and pre-med.

T.K. did independent studies, landed a 3-year internship teaching robotics at St. Andrew’s School and took college classes over the past 3 years, all earning college credits. He will enter Penn State with 40 college credits under his belt.

He says he is not super smart, just motivated.

“Some kids think I am just really smart but it’s not that. I believe that opportunity and desire are what motivated me and I had great opportunities at Barrington High School. There are so many opportunities at BHS and I had very dedicated mentors,” he said.

Barrington High School Guidance Counselor Dawn Pappas said she was happy to assist her student reach his lofty goals.

“As a new counselor, I met Theenash at the beginning of this school year, when he first told me of his plans to graduate a year early. I was excited to help him reach this lofty goal, but also a bit hesitant as I didn't know if he was taking on too much at one time, especially since he was enrolled in quite a rigorous course load," she said. 

Theenash was taking three Advanced Placement courses, an honors level course and several other challenging classes. 

"These, along with the pressures of submitting college applications, completing a senior project, and balancing everything else that comes with being a teenager made for a demanding schedule with little down time," said Ms. Pappas. "Despite this, Theenash proved to be dedicated and determined. He completed all of his requirements, and did so with much success. He should be very proud of his accomplishments; he is a bright young man with a promising future."

For his senior project, he designed and built a model of a 3-D prosthetic leg.
He said he showed it to professors at Penn State and they are interested in seeing him pursue a true-to-life model when he hits campus in August.

T.K. has been heavily involved with robotics since middle school and is a Science Olympiad.

A hard worker who says he is very social, he recently earned his black belt in Tae Kwando. A master in the sport, he is a dedicated student, teacher and exhibitionist in the art.

He and his family moved to Barrington when T.K. was in third grade at Sowams School, coming from a brief stint in East Providence and Malaysia where he was born.

His father Dr. Senthil Kumar is a university consultant specializing in strategic enrollment management. Theenash's mother, Selvi Kumar, is a nurse practitioner at University Surgical Associates. He has a younger sister, Trissha a seventh-grader at Barrington Middle School.

It is T.K.’s hope to bring innovations in engineering to third world companies when he is finished with his education.

“My career goal is to solve the mobility problems of leg amputees by developing an S-shaped low-cost prosthesis model that can be leveraged to aid amputees in third world countries who do not have the same access to medical supplies as those residing in first world countries,” he said.

Besides his family, T.K. said he is very thankful for those who helped him reach his goals.

“School principal Mr. Hurley, my guidance counselor Ms. Pappas, my mentor Mr. Rocky Silva from Rocky Silva’s American Karate, my independent study sponsor Mrs. Pickford, Dr. Abdou Lo from St. Andrew's School and R&D Technologies who gave me the internship. Without these people, I wouldn’t be a BHS graduate today,” he said.