A 12-year-old graduates high school, college together

A 12-year-old North Carolina boy took a few extra classes in his spare time during the Covid-19 pandemic and is graduating high school and college in the same week.

Mike Wimmer, 12, of Salisbury, will graduate Rowan-Cabarrus Community College with an associate’s degree and will graduate Concord Academy High School just seven days later. Wimmer has a 4.0 GPA at the college and a 5.45 GPA in high school, earning him the role of his class valedictorian.

“I went through all of the grades in school at a faster pace,” Wimmer told. “I’m like a sponge, I take in knowledge very fast.”

Wimmer discovered that if he added just a couple of extra classes he could graduate from both schools at the same time. He ended up completing the equivalent of two years of high school and two years of community college classes in a single year.

A 9.36-pound mango breaks Guinness record

Orlando Novoa Barrera and Reina Maria Marroquin grew a massive mango weighing 9.36 pounds, at San Martin farm in the Boyaca area of Guayata, Colombia.

The mango, growing much larger than the other fruits on the tree, took the title of the world’s heaviest from a 7.57-pound mango grown in 2009 in the Philippines.

“Our goal with this Guinness World Records title is to show to the world that in Colombia we are humble, hardworking people and the land cultivated with love produces great fruits,” Barrera told Guinness World Records.

They ended up serving the mango to their family.

World’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge

Hidden between rock-strewn mountains covered with lush greenery and yellow flowers inside the UNESCO-recognised Arouca Geopark, the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge opened near the tiny town of Arouca in northern Portugal. The bridge hangs 175 metres above the fast-flowing River Paiva, and is 516-metre-long (1693-ft) with a see-through metal grid pathway.

The crossing is not for the faint-hearted. Held up by steel cables and two massive towers on each side, it wobbles a little with every step.

Locals hope the attraction, which cost about 2.3 million euros ($2.8 million) and took around two years to build, will help revive the region.

Standing on the bridge, the mayor of Arouca, Margarida Belem, said the bridge was part of a wider strategy to encourage more people to move and stay in the region.

Ice age animal bones discovered

A couple in Las Vegas said workers digging behind their home for a pool installation made a surprising discovery: a set of bones that could be up to 14,000 years old.

Matt Perkins, who recently moved to Las Vegas, woke up in the morning to find Las Vegas police officers were speaking with the workers digging out the hole for their backyard pool.

The police determined the bones found about four to five feet under the surface, were not from a human — and were likely thousands of years old. Perkins contacted Joshua Bonde, director of research at the Nevada Science Centre, who visited the site immediately.

Bonde said the bones likely came from a horse or other large animal. He said the bones could be up to 14,000 years old — dating from the earth’s most recent ice age.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 22nd, 2021