Miami Dade College professor started the job at 18 years old. He's also studying for his law degree

Thomas is 21 today, but he was 18 years and 346 days old when he first accepted the engineering teaching position at Miami Dade College. It was a school he was familiar with.

At the age of 10, Thomas dual-enrolled at Miami Dade, later transferring to Florida International University at 14. Over the next four years, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering, chalking up honors in each degree.

And in his spare time

Thomas is teaching online these days. That’s because he’s chasing yet another degree. In 2028, he’s expected to graduate with a law degree. He plans to use that, along with his other degrees, to find work in the intellectual property law field, focusing on STEM.

“Engineering taught me how to break down complex problems in a structured way, and that’s carried over into how I approach law school now,” Thomas told Guinness World Records.

Thomas’ parents are engineers and growing up in that environment, he said, helped him learn to think in a structured manner. And his mother’s assistance cemented it.

“[My mom] had a way of making things feel simple even when they weren’t, and I think some of that stuck with me more than I realized at the time,” he said.

While he hasn’t lost the love for learning, he says there’s another sort of reward in encouraging that passion in others.