Whiz kid enjoying college challenge

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jul 2, 2009 - Page: 1B

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Southern University sophomore Polite Stewart Jr. is working full time this summer researching cancer markers and the impacts of proteins on prostate cancer cells.

Such work seems advanced for any college undergraduate, but Stewart can’t even legally drive a car.

Now 15 years old, Polite (pronounced poh-leet) was believed to be Southern’s youngest student ever when he enrolled last summer.

One year later, he has a double major in physics and chemistry and already finished 18 months worth of course work.

“The hardest part was my first semester and figuring out how to balance my classes and the different professors’ techniques,” said Stewart, who was home-schooled growing up.

Then the Scotlandville product suddenly found himself taking three college-level science classes and calculus at once.

“But it wasn’t really too difficult,” he added without any hint of braggadocio.

That’s what you expect from someone who sincerely describes his favorite part of college as “the challenge.”

Southern physicist and Timbuktu Academy Director Dialo Bagayoko said he is proud to be a mentor for his rapidly advancing pupil.

“I’m very, very happy with what he has done so far,” Bagayoko said, “and I trust he is on his way to being the genius I believe he is going to be.”

Polite Stewart Sr. did most of the teaching up until his son’s abilities started to advance too much around age 10.

That is when his young son began getting additional help from Southern programs, such as Bagayoko’s award-winning Timbuktu Academy, for intensive science and math mentoring.

Stewart had some trouble adjusting socially when he started in the academy at age 10, Bagayoko said.