Northbrook native, 17, believed to be Lake Forest College's youngest graduate ever

Thursday, May 14, 2020
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (WLS) -- A 17-year-old Northbrook native is believed to be Lake Forest College's youngest graduate ever.

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Niam Abeysiriwardena started at the university at the age of 13 after graduating from Glenbrook South High School.
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"I don't think there's anything particularly special about being 13 there, in fact, I wasn't the youngest looking person on campus," Niam said.

At the age of 15, Niam had a research paper accepted for publication in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. At 16, he won a Goldwater Scholarship and a Parkinson's research scholarship.
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The double major in neuroscience and computer science originally planned to immediately go to grad school, but that may have to be put on hold because of the pandemic.
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