In many ways, Sophia Beasley is an average 6-year-old.

She likes playing soccer, hanging out with friends and her Girl Scout troop.

Her many career aspirations include being a rock star and a singer.

At the top of her list is biomedical engineering.

Unlike others her age, Sophia is learning computer coding, does science experiments on her YouTube channel, and is on track to graduate high school by the age of 10, her parents say.

An early start

Sophia’s parents Cheyenne and Jesse Beasley always knew Sophia was smart.

After moving to Pelion when Sophia was 5, they noticed she was usually far ahead in her classes and bored when unchallenged.

When Sophia got in trouble for tutoring her classmates during lessons, her parents decided to home-school her.

That’s when they realized she was more than gifted.

At 6 years old, Sophia was learning to spell words like “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

It means exceptional or wonderful.

She learned that on her own in about 2 minutes, her parents say.

Sophia showed a particular interest in science and engineering.

She earned money through fundraising to buy parts for her graphics computer. She needed it to run a special program to film and edit her YouTube videos.

Her “Sophia the Science Girl” videos have almost 6,000 views.

Big goals

Sophia says she loves to teach others about science.

Her new goal is to start a mobile science lab.

The Beasleys acquired a 23-foot camper they plan to turn into a solar-powered teaching tool.

They plan to coordinate with school districts around the state to have Sophia teach students in the mobile lab.

“I can teach the kids about solar power and how to get energy from the sun,” Sophia said.

They also plan to install 10 virtual reality stations with computers to simulate other experiments they normally couldn’t perform with standard equipment.

“I want to teach science and how things work and how to mix this and that to make new things,” said Sophia.

What’s ahead

Sophia and her parents are already planning for college.

The Beasleys have met with University of South Carolina science department directors.

Sophia plans to go into biomedical engineering.

She wants to be an ear doctor to help people undergoing eardrum graft surgery as her dad went through.