BY SOHINI LAHIRI, King High

High school is a struggle of finding who you are, where you fit in and what you’ll turn into down the road. Many students hope they have the brains to get into the college or career path they dream of.

Some don’t have to hope.

Haoqing Wang (pronounced How-Ching Wang), a junior at King High, is one whose brain is not in question. Here’s his story.

Throughout high school, Wang has been hailed as King’s own genius. People talk about how to “be a Haoqing” (Wow, he was so smart, he was basically a Haoqing). Students look up to him, and teachers constantly try to stump him with riddles and challenges. A teacher in the math department, Ron Carrell, recalls the time he attempted to confuse Wang.

“I asked Haoqing a riddle. Now keep in mind, I’ve asked several students the same thing, but not one has answered it correctly in my time teaching. I said, ‘Haoqing, why is the combination lock an inappropriate name for (the device used on) lockers?’ ”

Wang barely hesitated before responding with enthusiasm, “Because we’re not making combinations, we’re making permutations.”

Wang has been an officer of King’s math club, Mu Alpha Theta, since his freshmen year. He places first or second individually in every competition and has competed at the state and national level. Wang also participates in Future Business Leaders of America and Science Bowl and is on the staff of The Scepter, King’s newspaper.

Wang, who even without his junior year credits has a nearly 4.0 unweighted GPA and well over a 5.0 weighted GPA, took the SAT for the first time in October, before his class had taken the PSAT. He scored a 2390, only 10 points below perfect. Wang received a perfect score on the PSAT.

One great thing about this prodigy is his humble nature. Wang is always quick to help his classmates with concepts they don’t understand, and he never acts self-righteous, making his peers feel comfortable around him. He also doesn’t spend hours locked in his room like the stereotypical study nerd. He has a girlfriend, Jackie Yang, who is very talented as well, and he does regular things, like go to homecoming.

Wang says math has always come easy to him. He participated in competitions before high school.

“But it was middle school, and things were different, and people didn’t really care so much.”

He’s still unsure about his career path but hopes to attend either Carnegie Mellon University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Chances? Even though my friends and people I know think I’d get in, personally I’m actually uncertain of what my chances would be.”