Math no problem for Lakewood Ranch 13-year-old

Three-year-old Carter McCaa was snorkeling while on a family vacation, and under the water, he could see his father's hands approaching.

There in the world of colorful fish and sea shells, out would flash two fingers on one hand, and three on the other.

Carter would bring his head above the water.

"Five!"

It wasn't surprising that Kennon McCaa, now a software developer, had been a math teacher.

"We were always doing math problems," Kennon said with a smile. "We called it underwater sea counting."

When it comes to math in his current world, Lakewood Ranch's Carter McCaa, 13, has all the answers. Now a seventh-grade student at The Out-Of-Door Academy, Carter has been accepted into the Johns Hopkins Study of Exceptional Talent (SET) program.

Approximately 400 seventh-grade students from around the world are selected to participate. To qualify for SET, a student must score 700 or higher on the SAT math or verbal section. Carter scored 760 in August.

It's no huge surprise Carter is piling up accolades when it comes to math. In 2016 as a Robert E. Willis Elementary fifth-grader, Carter paired with a teammate to win the Manatee County Math Super Stars competition.

In May, Carter will travel to Duke University to accept a national award from Duke TIP (Talent Identification Program). He will attempt summer programs both through John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth — a Chemistry in Society course at Haverford College in Haverford, Penn. — and a course at Duke that has yet to be decided.

While his achievement is off the charts, and his father notes that "nobody is used to doing the work Carter is doing," Carter said he is just a regular kid, with a gift.

He looked through the photos of other students heading to Haverford.

"Those kids look 500 times smarter than me," he said at his River Club home where the family has lived for nine years. "My life isn't dedicated to math."

While that might be true, his mom, Beth McCaa, notes that you can't be around their house for a week "without math coming up somehow."

Kennon McCaa wanted to stress that his son isn't getting beaten over the head with math problems. Kennon and Beth simply try to infuse math into their son't life with regularity, and challenge him in a way that will enhance his future opportunities.

"At first glance, it might seem like a kid would have to be studying all the time to be so far ahead and to get a near perfect score on the SAT at 12 years old," Kennon said. "That wasn't the case. Yes, he spent about 30 minutes each Saturday from kindergarten through fifth grade doing challenge problems, and yes he spent about an hour (each day) in sixth grade studying SAT problems and yes he spent about 15 to 20 minutes per weekday and one to two hours on weekends doing SAT problems this past summer.

"But his life isn't all about doing math problems. Carter has plenty of free time to explore his other interests (video games). What we simply did was limit his video game time and make it contingent upon spending a little time doing something productive. Sort of like eating your vegetables before dessert."

Of more than 25,000 seventh-grade students who took the SAT math test in 2017, only 1% scored 690 or higher.

Scores aren't the only motivating factor for Carter, who described the incentive program designed by his dad for last summer.

"I did SAT packets and if I got 80% (correct), I would get $5," he said. "I was taking one every day."

He earned $560 by the end of the summer and he used it to purchase a cell phone since he had dropped his former one in a pond. Yes, he can be a typical kid.

What's not typical is his hopes for the future. He would like to be an architect or an engineer and he already has identified Princeton as his university of choice.

"Princeton offers a lot of stuff on engineering," he said. "It was interesting."

His parents make sure they swing by college campuses when they go on family vacations, which often allows Carter to check out Ivy League schools. Imagine that?

"He needs to see the world," his father said. "We like that he is getting to explore campuses and makes connections. We're also looking for a more diverse environment."

Through it all, he said he will continue to play his video games, and increase the time he spends fishing, because he knows math will always be there, even if its under the water.

"Yes, I do math every single day," he said. "But it's going to pay off."