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

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.

"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.

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.