The Kids Hall of Fame Inductees
2-Year-Old Extraordinary Achievers
ACTOR / ACTRESS
Dashiell Messitt and Fox Messitt, twin brothers, played the role of Tommy Fuller, Jr. on the Netflix series Fuller House, meant to mirror the original Full House series casting of Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen.
(Glendale, California: 2016)
ARTIST: PAINTER
Aelita Andre held her first solo exhibition at BSG Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, and her first international exhibition in Hong Kong.
(Melbourne, Australia: 2009)
Visit Aelita’s website.
Learn about Aelita as:
– an artist: age 4, age 6, age 9, age 12
ASSEMBLER: JIGSAW PUZZLE
Jonathan Estrada assembled United States and world jigsaw puzzles and identified missing pieces by name and color. Jonathan also created shapes of the 50 states by biting into cheese. He then indicated the location of their capital city.
(East Northport, New York: 1991)
Photo: Courtesy of Jonathan’s Parents
Learn about Jonathan as:
– a memory whiz: age 4, age 5
– a polyglot: age 4
ASSEMBLER: JIGSAW PUZZLE
ATHLETE: GOLFER
Tiger Woods (born Eldrick Tont Woods) started learning how to play golf from his father, Earl Woods. At age 2, Tiger appeared on the Mike Douglas Show for a putting contest against Bob Hope. Tiger went on to become one of the most accomplished golfers of all time.
(Cypress, California: 1977)
Illustrated by Catherine Sun
Visit Tiger’s website.
Learn about Tiger as:
– an athlete: age 3, age 6, age 8, age 9, age 12, age 13, age 14, age 15, age 16, age 17, age 18, age 19
– a visionary: age 9
ATHLETE: SKATEBOARDER & SURFER
Sky Brown began skateboarding and surfing. Her preschool had a skate park, and her father built a backyard mini ramp where she skated every day. Sky didn’t mind being the only girl at a skate park because she wanted to show everyone that, “Girls can do what boys can do.”
At age 13, Sky won a bronze medal for skateboarding at the 2020 Summer Tokyo Olympics, which were held in 2021 due to COVID.
(Miyazaki, Japan: 2010)
Learn about Sky as:
– an athlete: age 13
– an author: age 13
– a dancer: age 10
INVENTOR
Sydney Dittman invented a suction-based drawer opener, by putting together a tool made from toy parts. It looked a bit like a toilet plunger and used suction to pull on round knobs to open drawers. Sydney created her invention after her parents told her not to open the kitchen drawers.
(Houston, Texas: 1992)
Learn about Sydney as:
– a patentee: age 4
MEMORY WHIZ: CAR BRANDS
Ezan Muad identified 39 different car brands in one minute, by viewing the pictures of cars on a laptop screen.
(Kozhikode, Kerala, India: 2023)
Haadi Zayan identified 101 car models (national and international) in a little over 6 minutes.
(Dubai, United Arab Emirates: 2022)
MEMORY WHIZ: COUNTRY CAPITALS
Adhyayan Mondal named the capitals of 100 countries in 1 minute and 54 seconds.
(Asansol, West Bengal, India: 2022)
MEMORY WHIZ: COUNTRY FLAGS
Sri Shanmukha Sudarshan Gauji identified 196 national flags.
(Hyderabad, Telangana, India: 2020)
MEMORY WHIZ: COUNTRY FLAGS
Pranav Prakash identified and named all 195 (UN recognized) countries in a little over 3 minutes. He did so by viewing pictures of flags on a laptop screen.
(Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu, India: 2023)
Illustrated by Kathan Dorriety
MEMORY WHIZ: COUNTRY FLAGS
MEMORY WHIZ: GEOGRAPHY
S. Adhvaith identified the Indian states and union territories on a map, along with their capitals cities and official languages, in less than 5 minutes.
(Thoothukkudi, Tamil Nadu, India: 2021)
Sukhir Boopathikrishnan identified all the 28 Indian states by their outline maps, in 35 seconds.
(Salem Tamil Nadu, India: 2021)
MEMORY WHIZ: GEOGRAPHY
Srisanvitha Sridhar located over 70 countries on a map and on a globe. She also identified flags of over 40 countries. The entire family nurtured her interest and skill. When one member of the family taught Srisanvitha to locate a new country, she then demonstrated it to each of the remaining members. They praised her and gave her little rewards in proportion to her achievements. Learning to locate a few countries, earned Srisanvitha a tasty treat from the kitchen. Recognizing 10 to 15 countries earned her a trip to the store to select a new toy. Srisanvitha explained, “Learning is fun! Globes and maps are fun!”
(East Brunswick, New Jersey: 2001)
Photo: Courtesy of Srisanvitha’s Parents
MEMORY WHIZ: HUMAN BODY
Pranina Tandan recited the names of all 206 human bones.
(Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India: 2021)
MEMORY WHIZ: NATIONAL ANTHEMS
Vivaan Sarnaik recited the Indian national anthem at Sanskar Sadhna School.
(Washim, Maharashtra, India: 2018)
Learn about Vivaan as:
– a memory whiz: age 3
MEMORY WHIZ: NURSERY RHYMES
Aahan Bera recited 60 Bengali nursery rhymes including Aatul Batul, Agdum, and Akash Ghire Megh.
(Kolkata, West Bengal, India: 2022)
MEMORY WHIZ: PERIODIC TABLE
Anik Shyadligeri recited all the elements in the periodic table, which is an arrangement of chemical elements in order of increasing atomic number, in 3 minutes and 40 seconds.
(Dharwad, Karnataka, India: 2021)
MEMORY WHIZ: SPELLING
Nevin Job spelled 99 English words (minimum 4 letter words) in less than 20 minutes.
(Pathanamthitta, Kerala, India: 2022)
MEMORY WHIZ: WORDS & NUMBERS
Arjun Ayyangar read headlines of newspaper and magazine articles as well as Dr. Seuss books. He learned the Hindi, Tamil, and Urdu alphabet from his grandmother, Saroja, and then learned to read words in those languages.
Arjun also learned addition, subtraction, multiplication and division calculations, and more.
Learn more…
(Denville, New Jersey: 2000)
Photo: Courtesy of Arjun’s Parents
Visit Arjun’s website.
Learn about Arjun as:
– an ambassador: age 11
– a college freshman: age 15
– an intern: age 18
– a memory whiz: age 1
– a musician: age 3, age 4, age 6, age 8, age 9, age 10, age 11, age 13
MUSICIAN: DRUMMER
Hugo Molina played the drums on Spain’s Got Talent television program and received a standing ovation. He was the youngest contestant ever on the program.
(Spain: 2019)
MUSICIAN: DRUMMER
Julian Pavone
(Detroit, Michigan: 2006)
Photo: Courtesy of The Pavone Family
Visit Julian’s website.
Learn about Julian as:
– an ambassador: age 5
– an inventor: age 3, age 5
– a musician: prior to age 1, age 1, age 4, age 8
– a patentee: age 5, age 7
MUSICIAN: SINGER
Neeti Kothari became a professional singer. She released her first solo album, “Gayatri Mantra” produced by B.B. Music Company, New Delhi.
(Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India: 2004)
Nonoka Murakata became the youngest solo artist to release an album. It’s entitled Nonochan Nisai Kodomouta and consists of her singing children’s songs.
(Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan: 2021)
MUSICIAN: TABLA PLAYER
Truptraj Atul Pandya, 2 months after his second birthday, gave a performance on the tabla, to an audience of over 1,000 people at Mumbai’s Somaiya College.
Learn more…
(Mumbai, India: 2008)
Photo: Courtesy of Atul Pandya
Visit Truptraj’s website.
Learn about Truptraj as:
– a musician: age 3, age 4, age 6, age 11, age 12
PHOTOGRAPHER
Rirendra Shrestha became a professional photographer. He had his work exhibited at the Nepal Art Council held in Babr Mahal, Nepal.
(Nepal: 2007)
POLYGLOT
A polyglot is a person who speaks, writes, reads, or understands more than one language.
Kiran Karthikeya spoke 4 different languages: English, Hindi, Kannada, and Telugu.
(Bengaluru, Karnataka, India: 2019)
SPELLING BEE COMPETITOR
Akash Vukoti competed in his first ever Spelling Bee. Ever since he was a baby, Akash enjoyed learning about words and the English language, and his parents drove him 6 hours from Cleveland, Ohio to Ashburn, Virginia to compete in his first spelling bee in 2012 when he was two and a half years old. Akash qualified through the written round into the oral rounds of the competition, and this sparked a passion for spelling that led him to achieve even more!
(Cleveland, Ohio: 2012)
Story: Courtesy of Akash & His Family
Visit Akash’s website.
NOTABLE: INHERITED ROLE
Dalai Lama
Lhamo Thondup was declared the 14th Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet. He officially took the throne at age 4 in 1940.
(Tibet: 1937)
Learn about Lhamo as:
– a notable: inherited role: age 4
NOTABLE: INHERITED ROLE
Emperor
Puyi (Manchu surname: Aisian-Gioro) became the last emperor of China. He was known as a “puppet emperor” since his father, Zaifeng, was in power as prince regent.
(China: 1908)