Contact: Bauke Stelma, 00-31-517-38-27-56

FRANEKER, the Netherlands, June 26, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- The 8th of June, Bauke Stelma from the Netherlands graduated from Thomas Edison State College (TESC), New Jersey, at the age of 16 and received the Arnold Fletcher Award for his accomplishments. He received his diploma today. The advanced American system of distance education allowed him to reach this goal.

"I worked hard to accomplish this goal," says he. "Graduating before my seventeenth birthday was not what I set out to do. However, the further I proceeded in my college career, the clearer it became that it might be a feasible goal and I decided to rise to the challenge and to pull out all the stops."

Bauke made it by the skin of his teeth. On June 8, 2012, the Board of Trustees of TESC approved the awarding of his degree, on June 9 Bauke turned 17. Bauke was awarded the Arnold Fletcher Award for his achievements.

Home schooling and credit-by-examination allowed Bauke to take this path to his Bachelor's degree. "I choose the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in General Management for multiple reasons. First, I am not a specialist. I have wide interests and do not want to specialize early on. This study prepared me for many functions in family, church and society. Secondly, General Management prepared me for being an employee and for entrepreneurship. Thirdly, it suited our circumstances best and enabled me to pursue this degree via distance learning." Bauke travelled to different test centers in Great Britain, Germany, and Belgium take his examinations. In March, 2012, he enrolled at Thomas Edison State College, forwarded his transcripts and filed his graduation request.

"My next goal? I hope to work as a mission aviation pilot and have started working towards that goal by training for my PPL (Private Pilot License). People normally aren't mission pilots for their whole working life. A former mission pilot enjoined on me to not only prepare for the mission field, but to think twenty years ahead as well. Therefore I will take on another study to prepare myself for life after mission aviation as well. I plan to study for a theology degree, because this will serve me both in the field and later in life."

"Do I want to pursue these goals as fast as my bachelor's? Well, I certainly would enjoy that, but it mainly depends on the funds available. Preparing for mission aviation is costly, so I will need to work and to raise funds to cover the expenses. Furthermore, this type of work will definitely require a high level of maturity and useful life and work experience. It will take me a couple of years to reach these goals and that's a good thing. But the first thing I'll do next is write an ebook about my college experience."

Photo: dl.dropbox.com/u/76078167/DSC_1911.JPG