5-year-old Anala Beevers is not just cute, she is a genius

By Michael Patrick Welch
Contributing Writer

New Orleans native Anala Beevers possesses an IQ over 145 at just five years old. Her natural genius helped her learn the alphabet at just four months old. “When she was born I’d say the ABCs to her and she would mouth the ABCs along with me,” says Anala’s mother Sabrina Beevers. “Then by 10 months old she could identify and point to each letter when I’d say it, before she could even talk.”

By 18 months Anala was reciting numbers in both Spanish and English. By her fifth birthday – which she celebrated this month—she could recite the name of every North American state on the map, plus every capital. Recent YouTube clips show Anala also naming the capitals of countries worldwide.

With an IQ higher than 145, 5-year-old Anala Beevers of New Orleans has been accepted into
the Mensa Society. The exclusive high-IQ club accepts only those who score at the 98th percentile
on an IQ test.

“We finally had to look at her and ask ‘Is this normal for a baby to do?’” says her father Landon Beevers.

When the Beevers finally put Anala together with other kids, the couple could really tell their daughter was strikingly different. So this year Anala Beevers skipped pre-K and was enrolled directly into Kindergarten at the Marrero Academy for Advanced Studies in Jefferson Parish. “They do have advanced study classes there,” says Landon, who expresses worry about Anala’s limited local education choices going forward. ”But her current school is not challenging enough for her; their resources are limited. We don’t know what we’ll do next for her, school-wise.”

At home though, “We are doing everything we can to maximize her potential. Anything she wants to explore we put it out there for her,” says her father, who plans to provide Anala with as normal a childhood as a genius can have. “We don’t have to push her or make her do anything, we don’t even make her sit down and read books,” he says, “she comes to us with all of that, tells us what she wants to learn.”

Though he has joked that his daughter “needs a reality show,” Landon claims he’s turned down “The Today Show” and “Good Morning America” to keep his little one’s life as simple as possible. Anala has nonetheless been written about extensively. In 2013, Landon Beevers told People magazine that his daughter’s smarts make her harder to deal with. Anala has publicly claimed she’s smarter than her parents (they publicly agreed) and even corrects their grammar.

“She’s more aware, her mind works faster, and she doesn’t just take things at face value,” says Landon. “She’s always gonna look deeper into it, which means she does challenge us a lot. We talk to her and respond to her like she’s an adult, and we get in a debate with her and then realize we’re debating a four-year-old! But the thing is, her arguments are valid – juvenile but intelligent.”

“Like the other day,” her mother recalls, “she asked why blue soap makes white bubbles—things that never crossed our minds.”

Beevers was recently invited to become one of 2,800 MENSA members under the age of 18 (the current youngest being 2 years old). The exclusive high-IQ club accepts only those who score at the 98th percentile on an IQ test – whereas young Alana Beevers placed in the 99th percentile range, putting her intelligence in the top one percent of all humanity.

Her parents say little Anala always has a new pursuit. The little genius is currently studying every book she can about volcanoes and astronomy; she can name planets and dinosaurs. “Though most recently now she’s on an artistic tip,” says her father. “She’s doing a lot of creative things right now. But it’s never just one thing. She’s a multi-tasker. Her mind never stops.”

This article originally published in the February 24, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.