Ryan Li

18 (as of 2020), Charlotte, NC

Mother: Sherry Li, SVP Bank of America

Father: Ting Xie, President of Texture Home LLC

Goals: CEO of a worldwide business

Interests: Violin, tennis, swimming, Legos, chess, Boy Scouts

With a competitive genius brother, Ryan grew up with a wealth of knowledge and extracurriculars that are unmatched in his home town. A self-described perfectionist, scholastic work comes naturally to him, especially math.

He was tested into 99.9 percentile on the WISC IQ Test at age 5, Ryan's intelligence runs in the family; his grandfather is a famous scholar and a general in China. He received the grand highest awards from CTY and Duke TIP programs. Ryan also co-founded the school magazine with his brother. He is very passionate about playing all kinds of Rubik's Cubes.

Why he’ll win?

Already labelled a "Genius" by his friends, school comes easy to Ryan, already many grades ahead in all subjects in his highly gifted school. With a strong family lineage of geniuses, Ryan has set high standards for himself. He has a lot to prove and won't stop until he does.