She’s only ten but she’s got a good grip on the ancient world and civilisations, and is not adverse to tackling maths questions designed for high school students.

Joanna Santiago is proving to be a model student and was recently chosen to participate in the Johns Hopkins Centre For Talented Youth’s summer programme.

Joanna, who attends St George’s Prep, had to pass a rigorous test to qualify for the programme which included various subjects including the high school level questions.

After a first unsuccessful attempt in December, she brushed herself off, enlisted the assistance of her parents, and, in February, went on to pass with flying colours.

As a result she had the opportunity to travel to Maryland, US, to participate in the programme along with other talented young students to learn about other fascinating subjects.

She said: “I have been studying the ancient world and civilisations. I studied the parts when they were just starting civilisation between the stone age and the golden age.

“We did Mesopotamia, ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, Aztecs, Incas and Mayans as well as Mesoamerica, ancient China and Japan.

“I really enjoyed it — I made a friend and her name was Ellie.”

Joanna has learnt very early on that hard work will pay off and she has some advise for her fellow students.

“The first tip is do not do your homework while watching TV — people do that and that is why they don’t get most of their work correct.

“Also if you do your homework on the floor you may get punch holes in it and we are learning that we have to present our work neatly and give a good impression to the teachers. I try to spend an hour or an hour and a half on homework each evening but also make time to do things I enjoy.”

Out of the classroom she participated in a Centre For Talented Youth after school programme for three years and is also involved in the school’s netball club.

While she is still very young, she already has an idea about what she would like to do when she is older — the difficulty is more about whittling it down to one career.

“I would like to go to college to become a vet. I am good with animals we have a lot of rabbits at home, I plan to get another fish and for Christmas I want to get a dog.

“I’d also like to be a professional runner and a dancer and a gymnast.”