ROBERTSDALE, Alabama -- Marcus “Scott” Evans II already knows what he wants to do for a living.

“I want to be a video game designer,” he said.

Not impressed? You should be. The 12-year-old son of Marcus and Bobbie Evans of Robertsdale not only knows what he wants to do, he has already begun mapping out how to get there.

“He’s incredibly focused,” said Robertdale Elementary School teacher Jennifer Earp. “It’s amazing just how focused he is.”

She should know. It was at the beginning of his fifth grade year that Earp, who was his teacher at the time, noticed he was acing every test.

So she began giving Scott advanced placement work to do, but it wasn’t enough.

“You or I would take one assignment and work on it all week,” she said. “Scott was taking work home and coming back the next day with a completed assignment. I was beginning to get overwhelmed.”

From fifth to sixth

Toward the end of the first month of school, testing is conducted to see what grade level students are capable of. Scott tested the highest possible in reading and math. He had also scored the highest in his class on the Alabama Reading and Math Test (ARMT).

After consulting with the advanced placement teacher, Melissa Ard, it was decided that Scott would begin taking classes at the sixth grade level. He would spend half a day with his fifth grade class and half a day with the sixth grade.

“Unlike a lot of students who are really smark, Scott is also really organized,” Earp said. “He knew when it was time to get up and go to his other group and when it was time to come back. I didn’t have to keep track of him. He was able to keep track of himself.”

By the end of his fifth grade year, Scott had completed the coursework for both the fifth and the sixth grade.

A decision to make

There was only one logical step, and that was for Scott to skip the sixth grade and go right into the seventh, but that would mean a big change.

“I was a little apprehensive at first,” he said. “I knew some of the kids in sixth grade and I liked my friends a lot better.”

Earp said also that she had built her school year around a team concept and Scott wasn’t sure he wanted to leave his team.

The move would also mean that Scott would be changing schools, and for most students it means a change in cirriculum, going from one teacher in one classroom to multiple teachers and changing classrooms.

“Officials at Central Baldwin Middle weren’t sure he was mature enough to handle it, but we knew better,” Earp said. “We knew Scott, they didn’t and we knew he could handle it. Also changing classrooms and dealing with multiple schedules was something he had been doing all year long, on his own.”

In order for Scott to move from the fifth grade to the seventh grade, he would have to take all of his exit exams. If he passed every subject, then he would have the choice whether or not to stay at Robertsdale Elementary or go to Central Baldwin Middle School.

“He nailed it,” Earp said. In fact, Scott scored so high on his exams, they were told that the choice would not be left up to the school, but to Scott and his family.

“We were told that in order for Scott to stay at Robertsdale Elementary, the school would have to hire a teacher just for him,” Earp said. “There was simply no way the school could have afforded to do that.”

A new start

So at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year, Scott began attending classes at Central Baldwin Middle School.

“We really want to commend (CBMS Principal Chuck) Anderson for working with us to make a smooth transition,” Bobbie Evans said. “We were concerned about bullies so decided at first to keep the fact that Scott had skipped a grade a secret and he respected our wishes.”

His apprehensions aside, Scott said, he enjoyed his first year at CBMS, enrolling in the Green Club and was inducted into the Junior Honor Society.

“I really enjoyed Green Club,” he said. “We got to take a field trip to clean up the beach in Fairhope and that was a lot of fun. All we got were cookies, but it was a lot of fun.”

The next step

Scott now wants to apply for the Alabama School of Math and Science in Mobile, but of course, he already knows exactly what he must do and he’s already working on it.

He also knows exactly where he wants to attend college.

“We did a project in the seventh grade where we researched colleges and out of all the colleges I researched, Georgia Tech was the best for what I wanted to do,” he said.

As for his immediate plans, Scott said, he’s planning on taking the challenge this summer of qualifying for Junior Mensa.

“I still like to have fun when I’m not in the classroom,” he insists, “but I’m really serious about my grades.”