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Jackson Morgan, 8, uses his computer at his home in Marlboro, Thursday afternoon. (Zachary P. Stephens/Reformer)

MARLBORO -- Jackson Morgan of Marlboro might only be in the fifth grade, but he's already accomplished a lot in his eight years of life.

Morgan was recently inducted into American Mensa, an organization for individuals with a high IQ, and he was also recognized by Johns Hopkins University for his high academic honors and achievement.

At his home in Marlboro, sitting in the glow of his own laptop computer, Morgan cruised around on Google Earth -- a program that zooms in on different geographic locations with a virtual map -- then brought up a copy of his most recent science report, which was about the Piping Plover, a species of bird found in Cape Cod, Mass.

His love for animals, especially birds, is apparent.

"We have chickadees," he said, "and if you sit still and hold out your hand, they just eat out of your hand."

His eyes sparkle as he explains it.

"If you hold out your thumb they can use it as a perch," he said. "Their claws look sharp, but once they're on your hands if just feels nice to the touch."

In addition to the already mentioned honors, Morgan has been admitted into Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted Youth and is a young scholar with the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.

He doesn't seem to think very much about being a gifted child despite the fact that he spends most of his time with kids who are years older than he is.

Though biologically, Morgan should be in second grade, he
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is currently in David Holzapfel's fifth- and sixth-grade multi-age class at Marlboro Elementary School.

Morgan's mother, Linda Morgan, said she thinks it's possible that Morgan feels comfortable around older people because he has five older siblings all over the age of 16.

"I like being the youngest," Morgan said.

"He isn't sick of his parents yet," his mother responded with a laugh.

In a society that regularly honors athletes with trophies and mentions on the evening news, Linda Morgan said that she felt like Jackson should be acknowledged for his accomplishments as well.

In order to get into Mensa, Jackson had to submit evidence of prior testing, since Mensa only uses its own tests to evaluate people over 14 years old. Only those with an IQ in the highest 2 percent are inducted.

To be admitted to the John Hopkins Center for talented youth, Morgan had to achieve a high score on math and vocabulary tests at a fifth grade level.

Linda Morgan said she's happy that Jackson will now have the opportunity to enroll in special online classes, and he can participate in the Center's summer camps as well.

"We're grateful for access to anything like that," she said.

She said that Jackson has been an easy child to raise, though it's clear to see how bright he is upon first meeting him.

For instance, it's not every child that will tell you how long he's been in Marlboro down to the day when asked how long ago he moved.

"One year, one month, and five days," he said. "I just remember because we have been here since Oct. 1 last year."

His mother said it was interesting to ask her son what he was doing on his dad's computer one day only to find out that he was keeping track of his allowance on an Excel spreadsheet.

Having a teacher that nurtures his abilities can make all the difference in Jackson's life, Linda Morgan said, adding that Jackson's current teacher (Holzapfel) is outstanding in that department.

"He's great," she said. "He's innovative with the students and very clever with the way he teaches them."

Holzapfel said that Morgan brings a lot of positive things to the classroom every day.

"Morgan's ability to penetrate and understand a subject has always been helpful in classroom discussions on various things," he said. "He is a superb reader and reads widely, so he is able to bring to the conversation not only the subject matter at hand but other related pieces of information."

During a recent class trip to Cape Cod, every child was supposed to conduct an interview on the specific Cape Cod-related subject they had chosen to study, Holzapfel said, but Morgan had a hard time finding a naturalist to speak with about the Piping Plover.

"When visiting the Audubon Society, we spontaneously spoke to the people behind the desk and an interview was arranged, but Jackson didn't have his questions with him," Holzapfel said. "And yet he was conversant enough and knew the questions well enough to be able to hold a half hour conversation on the issue he was looking into."

Morgan's skills should serve him well through the years. He's already thinking about what the topic of next year's research will be, when his class gets to visit New York City.

"Maybe the New York pigeon," he said, "and how the pigeons can affect daily life in New York City."

And just in case you forgot how old he was, he added, "I like chasing them," with a grin.