As the world mourns the passing of the great Steve Jobs, I am so grateful to have been a part of the very first generation to be blessed by his life and genius. Because of Steve and others like him, the changes to the world of technology and “connectedness” have been screaming forward at breakneck and sometimes frightening speed over the last 25 years or so. We’ve seen things come to pass that had once only been dreamed of by the brilliant forward-thinking minds of the “nerds” we went to school with — young men and women like Steve Jobs.

The Geniuses in High School

I was always fascinated by the genius of those in high school with seemingly unlimited access to some far-reaching intelligence and understanding the rest of us had no natural ability to tap into. No matter what their field of interest — the arts, sciences, mathematics, literary genius — they were the stand-outs, the teens we knew would go on to great things, and possibly even change the world as we knew it.

While the rest of us were wondering what we wanted to be “when we grew up” (and some of us still are!), the geniuses and visionaries among us had their paths clearly marked out for them from an early age.

Where Are They Now?

The people I recall being brilliant shining stars in high school were Mihai Manoliu, Drew Petersen, and David Chase (links to come later as I find out where these men are today). I was blessed to call them friends, and watch as they exercised and shared their enormous giftedness with their peers and teachers.

Mihai’s mind, in particular, fascinated me the most. I was fortunate to sit in front of Mihai in Algebra 2 my sophomore year in high school. He did his best to help me along, and I can thank him that I at least passed the class. Oh, how I hated math. But I loved being able to get to know Mihai that year, and discover that he was also a gifted musician. As I recall, Mihai graduated high school at the age of 16 and went straight to MIT.

Who were the geniuses and visionaries you remember from your high school years? And do you know what they went on to do with their gifts?