Her father, Martin Chen, told the Herald that her one wish after the results were revealed was to have a burger. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s still a kid. She asked me, \u2018can I have a burger for the success\u2019?<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her two burgers,\u201d Martin said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why she\u2019s still a kid, and her mind is still a little bit naive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her father said she was not a genius, and rather her progress was made possible through New Zealand\u2019s supportive system for personalised learning and appropriate educational approaches. <\/p>\n
Zhongfei (Victoria) Chen recently received an achieved grade in the 2025 NCEA Level 3 English external assessment.<\/p>\n
Knighton Normal School principal Andrew Campbell said the school was very proud of Victoria, and was happy for her and her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a school, we\u2019ve been able to help with things like setting Victoria up with the dual enrolment programme with Te Kura, facilitating her NCEA examinations, encouraging her and giving her opportunities to stretch her learning,\u201d Campbell said. <\/p>\n
He said the credit should go to Victoria, who had a wonderful attitude and to her parents, who have supported and guided her along the way.<\/p>\n
Her father said she also passed NCEA Level 2 for Chinese and only had about three months to prepare for both exams. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think she really likes to challenge herself, actually wants to do greater things,\u201d her father said. <\/p>\n
He said Victoria\u2019s mother, Anne, who is a teacher, helped provide guidance and age-appropriate reading material while she was studying. <\/p>\n
Martin said that when she isn\u2019t studying, she also spends her time evenly between sports and arts. <\/p>\n
He said his daughter\u2019s advanced language skills began when she was just a year old. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe already started speaking some simple sentences, and then never stopped,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Zhongfei (Victoria) Chen also spends her time evenly between sports and arts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next? <\/p>\n
Martin said his daughter loved to challenge herself and has big dreams for the future. <\/p>\n
He said she hopes to meet the university entrance requirements as soon as possible to allow her to study law. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she speaks Chinese and Filipino, she also wants to pursue international relations and to be a professional diplomat. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat is her dream,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Zhongfei (Victoria) Chen hopes to study law.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said she also hoped to make a movie about immigrant life in New Zealand and establish an organisation to aid gifted learners. <\/p>\n
Other young academics thriving in the New Zealand education system in the past included a pair of sisters who attended university<\/a> aged just 13 and under. <\/p>\n At age 12, child genius Alisa Pham was AUT University\u2019s youngest student, beating a record her sister set two years earlier. <\/p>\n Alisa was enrolled in AUT\u2019s Bachelor of Communication Studies with a double major in digital branding and creative branding at an age when most other kids are in intermediate school.<\/p>\n