Friday marks the end of the 2020-2021 school year in Palm Beach County.

It’s unquestionably one of the most challenging for students and staff who adjusted to everything from remote learning and simultaneous teaching to social distancing and mask mandates. But not even that could slow down one Pakhoee Middle-Senior High School graduate with his eyes on the skies.

From the time Matthew Thompson was 13-years-old, he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up.

“When I was in middle school I was able to take a discovery flight and they just take you up and fly you around in Maryland,” he told CBS12 News. “So I think after that I was more interested in trying to fly planes.”

4 short years later he made it happen. Thompson got his private pilot license, even before his high school diploma.