Most students at the age of 16 are practicing their driving skills, just starting to think about post-high school plans, or just hanging out with friends. Unlike most 16 year olds, senior Blake Coonrod is getting ready to graduate. Originally enrolled in the class of 2018, Blake skipped the third grade and is planning to attend Missouri University of Science and Technology in the fall.

“He definitely doesn’t act two years younger,” Kyle Springli, Blake’s friend and future roommate said. “If anything, he acts older than I do.”

Blake’s passion for getting ahead started all the way back in elementary school. Frustrated with the work he was given at school and yearning for more of a challenge, Blake was placed in math classes a year ahead of his grade, and after second grade, his mom and his school decided it would be best for him to skip a grade entirely.

“When I saw him getting frustrated, I wanted to try to make sure that he did not just give up or worse, channel all that drive in a negative direction,” Sara Coonrod, Blake’s mother, said. “He has always been very motivated. If he wants to learn about something, he’ll find a way to learn about it.”

Eight years later, Blake is once again working hard to achieve his goals. By taking dual-enrollment classes and online courses, he has fulfilled the necessary credits required to graduate and has gotten a taste of the life of a college student.

“I took some dual enrollment classes at Maryville this year, and I just really liked the college classroom a lot better,” Blake said. “You have a lot more freedom, they don’t count tardies and stuff, and if you knew the material, they weren’t collecting homework. It’s a lot more self-motivated and you didn’t have to ask to go to the bathroom.”

Interested in mechanical and aerospace engineering, Blake has been emailing members of Missouri S&T’s rocket team and has also explored the topic through his spectra project, researching the history of manned space flight and its socioeconomic impacts. He hopes to pursue his interest and make a career out of it after college.

“I want to work for SpaceX, I think,” Blake said. “I’m applying for an internship there next summer. I’ve also been talking to some engineers at SpaceX and it seems like a great place to work. I’ve also emailing some guys that work at NASA’s JPL because they’re pretty cool and they’re like blowing stuff up and sending up rockets and they have been for a long time.”