14-year-old math whiz to graduate from UCI, his sister, 10, is close on his heels
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Good morning. It’s Wednesday, June 11. I’m Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week’s TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county.
When UC Irvine holds its various commencements exercises this Friday through Monday, one of the Anteaters collecting their bachelor’s degrees will be Tycho Elling, who just turned 14 on May 31. Next, the young math whiz will be working on a doctorate at USC.
My colleague Sara Cardine interviewed Tycho, his parents and one of his professors to get a picture of what motivated the youngster to zip through coursework from the time he was of kindergarten age until today. Clearly, the answer is his nearly life-long love for mathematics.
His mom, Christina Elling, told Cardine she and her husband, Tim (both of them hold doctorates themselves) enrolled Tycho, their eldest child, in the online charter school Connections Academy when it appeared he was having a rough time with other kids in traditional kindergarten.
He zipped through Connections courses, completing several grade levels at the speed of light. Community college beckoned when he was only 9 and had completed all the math classes available him. In 2023, when he was 12, he earned his associate’s degree at Irvine Valley College as the campus’ youngest graduate to date.
“That record was broken the following year when [his sister] Athena, then 11, walked the stage,” Cardine reports. “But she wouldn’t hold the title for long; Zora (10) just graduated with her associate’s degree last month.”
The 10-year-old, Zora, is enrolled in some summer courses to take her brother’s seat in the math department at UCI in the fall, according to Cardine’s report.
“I think of this kind of as the ‘Tycho effect,” Christina Elling said of her children’s post-secondary pursuits. “Because Tycho had done it we felt a little more comfortable with the idea of Zora going.”
At this point in the story I was pondering how soon the youngest member of the Elling household, 4-year-old Nova, would eclipse her older siblings and their passel of degrees.
Cardine asked Tycho if he thought older UCI students might have felt uncomfortable doing coursework alongside someone his age.
“I just don’t notice, or I try not to notice,” he said.
UCI Associate Professor Asaf Ferber began teaching Tycho two years ago.
“He came to my office, this little kid,” he told Cardine. “I asked him ‘what type of math do you like’ — I didn’t know his background knowledge, so wanted to give him some books to read based on his natural attraction. And he looked at me with a naive face and a little smile and said, ‘I love everything.’”
What does Tycho hope to do once he has a PhD in hand?
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “Maybe I’ll look at [postdoctoral work]. I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”
You can find the complete story on Tycho and his family of high-achievers here. I really enjoyed it and hope you do, too.
MORE NEWS
• Orange County politicians yesterday denounced the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops in support of local raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. One of them, Rep. Lou Correa, a Democrat who represents the 46th District, called a Tuesday morning news conference to make his views known. “We want to tell America who Santa Ana is [and] what this immigration issue is all about,” Correa said. “It’s not us versus them. We are all part of the American fabric, part of the American community.”
• In a civil trial that was moved to San Diego County to avoid potential conflicts, a jury last Thursday found Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer harassed and retaliated against a high-ranking female prosecutor in his office, the Los Angeles Times reported. The jury found the county, Spitzer and former Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Shawn Nelson, currently seated as an O.C. Superior Court judge, liable for $3 million in damages, including $1.5 million for past emotional distress. The jury also ruled Spitzer would be liable for an additional $25,000 in punitive damages.
Newport Beach and Huntington Beach voters were asked to cast their ballots in Tuesday’s special elections, one to fill a vacated seat on the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees and the other to decide Measures A and B, both related to Huntington Beach libraries. The campaigns for both cities were rancorous, to put it mildly. Results started being released at 8 o’clock last night, past this newsletter deadline. Interested readers can find results as they are released here.
• Registered nurses who work at Anaheim Regional Medical Center last week ratified their first union contract, represented by SEIU Local 121RN, TimesOC reported. The contract calls for a minimum 19% pay raise over the four years, enhanced safety measures that will free ER nurses from having to check incoming patients’ belonging for weapons and drugs and better nurse-to-patient ratios.
• There’s a sewer pump station in San Clemente that’s been endangered by an active, slow landslide for several years. Now it has breached an 8-foot retaining wall built to protect the station, raising the specter of a sewage spill. So, the City Council last week considered approving a $2.3-million emergency contract to reinforce the wall with caissons and tiebacks before the next heavy rains hit. The panel, gambling such storms would be several months away, took a conservative approach by turning down the contract on a unanimous vote and instead putting the job out to bid. Here’s the link to the TimesOC story detailing their deliberations.
• A rundown 164-unit townhome development in Santa Ana that one former police chief called the worst neighborhood in the city because violence, gangs and drug dealing were then commonplace, is getting some help from the nonprofit Orange County chapter of Community Associations Institute, an organization that advocates for HOAs and other community associations. The group harnessed a host of volunteers to help restore a playground full of trash and broken equipment in the center of Bishop Manor to a lively, inviting place for the children living there.
• Another restoration of a recreational spot in Orange County, that of Main Beach Park in Laguna Beach, was recently completed. The $1.4-million project included new sidewalks, refreshed landscaping and upgraded furnishings, including benches, drinking fountains, lighting and trash receptacles.
PUBLIC SAFETY & CRIME
•Andrew Do, 62, the former O.C. supervisor who resigned as part of a plea deal stemming from a $550,000 bribery scheme was given a five-year sentence in federal prison Monday, the maximum sentence available to the judge under the plea deal.
• After executing search warrants, Costa Mesa police announced Monday they had arrested Huntington Beach resident Oscar Saldivar, 19, on suspicion of murder in the case in connection with the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Monserrat Colorado on the night of June 2 at the 1500 block of Costa Mesa’s Lukup Lane. Colorado was also from Huntington Beach.
• In more positive public safety news, the Newport Beach City Council was on track to approve last night a contract with the police union that would provide annual 4% raises for rank-and-file sworn and unsworn officers. The raises are expected to cost the city $19.3 million over three years, the Daily Pilot reported.
SPORTS
• Angels pitcher Kyle Hendricks earned his 100th career win when the Halos beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-4
at Angel Stadium. Kenley Jansen kept the ball from the Mariners’ final out and handed it to Hendricks to mark the occasion. His first 97 victories were secured when he was with the Chicago Cubs.
• High-profile sports agent and Newport Beach resident Scott Boras was among the honorees at the inaugural OC Sports Awards held recently at Angel Stadium, where he received the Lifetime Achievement award. According to this Daily Pilot story by Matt Szabo, the 72-year-old Boras has negotiated nearly $4 billion in contracts for his clients over the years, including the $765-million deal with the N.Y. Mets he secured for his client Juan Soto, the largest in sports history.
Life & Leisure
• The Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! ride at Disneyland, which opened in 2006, is scheduled to be closed early next year to make was for an new attraction inspired by the oceans of James Cameron’s sci-fi film “Avatar,” The Times reports.
• Orange County’s oldest record store on South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, whose owners, Jimmy and Edith Otto were ready to call it quits last October, has been purchased by another family and reopened. First opened in 1967, Sound Spectrum has been given a new lease on life by siblings James, Audrey and Sadie Jean Wilcox.
• The Huntington Beach Queens’ Rose Garden celebrated its 60th anniversary on Friday when the current Miss Huntington Beach, Nicole Allyson Vogt was there for the planting of a “Mellow Yellow” rose bush that she selected. The ceremony was put on by the nonprofit Sand Dollars of Huntington Beach, which organizes the Miss Huntington Beach scholarship and pageant program each year.
• The Hillbert Museum in Orange, founded by Newport Beach resident Mark Hilbert and his late wife, Janet, is partnering this year with the Pageant of the Masters to promote California art in the Laguna Beach pageant. An oil painting that depicts Hilbert dining at the iconic Crab Cooker with two other men (including, Bradford J. Salamon, the artist himself) has special meaning, because the museum was born from the discussions they held during their Monday night meetups at the Newport Beach eatery. Hilbert will join the cast of volunteers at the living pageant on “Hilbert Museum Night at the Pageant” on July 9 to play himself in the “Monday at the Crab Cooker” painting, TimesOC reports.
CALENDAR THIS
• The national tour of the sensational production that’s claimed multiple Tony awards, “The Life of Pi,” based on the best-selling book by Yann Martel, is on stage at the Segerstrom through Sunday. Read this feature story by my colleague Sarah Mosqueda to learn more about the magic of the puppetry that brings the tiger character to life. Tickets start at $44.07 and can be ordered here.
• The 6th annual Taste of Japan event will take place at the STC Anaheim GardenWalk this Friday through Sunday and will feature a marketplace, live entertainment and Japanese street food. General admission is free, with special event tickets available for purchase. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the event’s website.
Until next Wednesday,
Carol
KEEP IN TOUCH
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