Due to the enthusiasm and knowledge of third-grade information technology students, Andrej Dušanić, the Secondary School Center "Mihajlo Pupin" will record an example of a student who will simultaneously attend two grades in its long history of over a century.
This seventeen-year-old expressed a desire to complete both the third and fourth grades of high school at the same time, and he received the green light for this from the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Srpska.
Dušanić emphasized that he is eager to reach his goals as soon as possible, and he also has a desire to accelerate his education.
– Ever since elementary school, or perhaps even earlier, I have been interested in learning more comprehensively, exploring, and mastering knowledge beyond the curriculum. I want to continue my education at the university and get a job, so I felt that one extra year of high school would be a waste of time that I could spend on achieving my goals – said Dušanić, explaining that he began to explore ways to "accelerate" his education.
– I consulted both the pedagogue and the principal about my intention. My plan is to study mechatronics, as I am passionate about improving technology and machines, and I already have a vision for how I can do that. Furthermore, I plan for the results to be faster, more secure, and cheaper. This passion awakened in me even before elementary school, perhaps when I was five years old, and I already created my first virus in elementary school, followed by an operating system. This kind of experimentation and research simply motivates me and gives me breadth – said Dušanić, who has been studying university-level material since last year.
– I invest time in schoolwork and university-level material, and I am also employed at a company in Derventa, where I maintain systems. It’s not difficult for me, except perhaps for the Serbian language, given that the material is extensive due to the reading assignments – adds this Derventa native, whose previous successes in this school, as well as in the fields of informatics, programming, and other subjects, are attested to by his classmates and teachers.
The school director, Gordana Asentić, also has words of praise for this young student.
– The law allows for the simultaneous taking of exams for completing two grades, and it was necessary for the subject teachers to agree that the student truly has those capacities, which was unanimously agreed upon in this case. Andrej is a student for whom natural and technical sciences come easily, and he has achieved high placements in competitions, with a notable first place in the regional informatics competition in the first grade and sixth place at the republic level. Additionally, he excels in languages. He is very intelligent, diligent, persistent, collegial, and exceptionally humane – a young man whom I believe will accomplish great things in the future – said Asentić.
The school director clarified that Andrej is a third-grade student, and he follows the lessons with his current class, while he will complete the fourth grade after passing the exams for the third.
– He will take the fourth-grade exams at the end of the year for each subject, preceded by a few days of preparatory lessons – Asentić explained.
Creating His Own Website
So far, Andrej Dušanić has successfully developed applications, and he is currently creating his own website.
– I got the idea during my research. It’s a site for auctions, and I realized there is a demand for this in Bosnia and Herzegovina – explained this student.
A Plow for His Grandmother
Dušanić added that the source of his desire to accelerate his education and start independent projects comes from wanting to help his grandmother.
– She has a plow that I want to upgrade with artificial intelligence so that she can carry out tasks independently, plow, and sow. This is a step towards my ultimate goal of automating agriculture so that we can have free food. I want to work in the direction of making households completely self-sufficient with solar energy and automated machinery – said Dušanić.