Fontana 16-Year-Old Graduating High School And Heading To MIT

FONTANA (CBSLA) - While many high school seniors are anxiously awaiting their college acceptance letters this month, one Fontana teen, who just learned how to drive, is headed off to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

Within the walls at Henry J. Kaiser High School, there are a lot of smart kids, and one of them - 16-year-old senior Amitoj Lobana - already knows where he's going to college.

"It's best to learn as equals alongside all of our peers, and I think MIT provides that opportunity," the teenager said.

While getting in to MIT is an amazing feat for any high school senior, it's particularly impressive considering Lobana's age.

"I happen to skip two grades," the teenager told CBSLA.

Lobana's father works as a cashier at a gas station and his mother, Harjit Cheema, is a stay-at-home mom. She said she knew there was something special about him at a very early age.

"We would see him. He used to do his multiplication tables...[at] maybe three, I think," said Cheema.

Lobana started high school at the age of 12 and hasn't looked back since.

"All my peers and my friends have been very welcoming throughout all my years," he said.

Aside from Lobana's talent for academics, he also plays on the tennis team, runs cross country and volunteers in the Key Club.

"I certainly think it's important to be well rounded," he said.

When it came time to look at colleges, MIT was at the top of the teen's list, but the problem was there was no way the family could afford it. That's when he was told about Quest Bridge, a program that matches high achievers from low income backgrounds to leading institutions. MIT gave Lobana a full ride scholarship.

"We still think it's a dream," Lobana's mother said.

Lobana said what's driven him to pursue academics most have been his parents, who left India in the late '90s to try for a better life for their children.

"Anything I may have accomplished over my life, it all belongs to them and it's all the result of their hard work," the teen said.

The lesson his parents instilled in him was to study hard, never give up and stay humble.

"I always tell them, whenever you pray to god, just say thank you for everything and take care of everything, everybody else," Jatinder Lobana, the teen's father, said.

In the fall, the 16-year-old is headed to Massachusetts where he hopes to study computer science or aerospace engineering. As for what comes after that, Lobana said he just wants to do something to better the world.

"I think no matter what we pursue in our lives, there's always that value in getting your hands dirty and helping clean something up in the community, however small that may be. That helps us stay connected."