Gifted Troy 7-year-old passes test and joins Mensa International
FOX 2 (WJBK) - His name is Hank Kesner.
He’s 7 years old, he loves soccer, LEGOs and jumping on the trampoline.
FOX 2: "And what’s your IQ?"
"One hundred billion," he said.
FOX 2: "One hundred billion?"
Alright. it’s actually 130, and they call him "Electric."
FOX 2: "Why do they call you that?"
"Because I’m really fast," Hank said.
And not just quick with his feet — but with his mind.
"He’s just a typical 7-year-old who likes to play outside and get dirty," said Laura Kesner, his mom. "But he also has this brain that is insatiable."
So insatiable — he just got tested and joined Mensa — the High IQ Society.
"It’s a club you can get into, but to get into it, you have to be really really smart," he said.
"Mensa has a lot of resources for gifted youth and so that was my main motivation," Laura said. "And I was like, let's just see, I think it’s kinda cool."
Let’s put Hank's wits to the test — first off — flag flash cards.
FOX 2: "What’s your favorite flag?"
"South Africa," Hank said.
Round 1 — it was pretty obvious Hank was going to wipe the floor with Scott Wolchek.
"Do you know this one?" Hank said.
"Nigeria?"
"Afghanistan," he said.
The game goes on and after total destruction by Hank, or should we say, Electric.
"It’s kind of an ego buster when I don’t know this flag and I can’t beat you at this puzzle game," quipped Laura.
And the puzzle game Hank loves is Kanoodle.
"Kanoodle is a game that’s kind of like Tetris where you have to put puzzle pieces in, so they only fit a certain way," his mom said.
A card shows you the starting position for two pieces — it’s up to you to figure out the rest.
"And when you’re done, you can press this button, and then it flips over the other person's one, so it knocks down all the pieces," Hank said.
We did best three out of five. Hank takes game one. Somehow, Wolchek wins the second game.
Wolchek's victory was short-lived - very short in game three.
Game four and Wolchek was on fire.
And then in game five, Hank stopped toying with Wolchek.
"We know what you said, you’re gonna beat me," Scott said.
"And I did," Hank laughed.
The thing about Hank - he’s smart, but he’s a 7-year-old at heart. He is curious and loves learning.
He’s into geography and can easily take each state’s shape and place it properly on a map.
But at the end of the day he just likes to have fun and learn on his own.
His latest obsession is soccer and he is joining a camp this summer before second grade.
We know this kid’s going places, but where does he want to go?
"I want to work for LEGO and go to space," he said.
Something tells us, he’ll get there.
