PHOENIX — At 8 years old, Ria Cheruvu, can't make up her mind whether she should become a software engineer like her parents or the president of the United States.
Asked which way she is leaning, the Gilbert girl replied, "I think I'll become the president of the United States. But both ways, I know I'm going to feel happy."
To someone who hasn't met Ria, this may sound like an idle aspiration from an over-imaginative child. But spend a few minutes with her, and you might start believing that anything is possible for the precocious little girl.
Ria excels in golf, piano, voice, acting and chess. These are just a few of her pursuits.
She studies at a seventh-grade level at the online public school Arizona Connections Academy. The flexibility enables her to pursue her many past-times and act in movies.
With one south Indian movie, titled "Karma," under her belt, Ria has signed contracts to appear in two Hollywood movies. In one, she'll play an angel and in the other, she'll be the victim of a plot to eliminate the world's children.
"I get to express my feelings in different characters," Ria said.
The Cheruvus, who hail from a conservative family background in southern India, realized early that their only child was special. When Mom Sunitha read baby Ria the names of the U.S. presidents, she began repeating them, including that of President Abraham Lincoln, with whom she shares a birthday.
"By 18-months, ... she had knowledge and a photographic memory," said Sunitha, who gave up her software engineering career to be with her daughter.
At the time, they were living in Seattle. A neighbor alerted a television station, which did a segment on Ria's ability to rattle off the 43 U.S. presidents' names.
In kindergarten, at 3 1/2 years, Ria had mastered multiplication. Sunitha said that for Ria, school quickly became more like a place to show off, not learn.
Soon, educators said she didn't belong in a regular school system and advised home-schooling. Subsequently, Arizona Connections Academy tested and placed her three years ago.
Lately her father, Sunil Cheruvu, who works at Intel Corporation, has been teaching her binary code.
"He uses these big words that I don't really understand. I finally realized that binary is a code using zeros and ones," Ria said.
Ria also participates in several artistic endeavors and sporting activities.
On stage, she has played the role of the youngest princess in "The King and I" and Molly in "Annie," in Gilbert's Hale Centre Theatre. Producers of "Annie" on Broadway in New York City offered her the same role.
Offers to appear in commercials also have been made, but the Cheruvus are selective and protective, limiting her exposure to only two.
"What I want her to have is a strong base," Sunil said. "And that base will be something that we both know and that we are familiar with. And then, let her bloom into her own talents."
Sunil added, "We want to build her as a wholesome individual rather than pigeonhole her and put her in one area. I think that's what makes her successful."
Building a wholesome individual includes some time for volunteering.
Ria accompanies her mother in volunteering through Make-A-Wish Foundation. They visit India each year to nurture a 75-children government school that was built on farmland purchased by the family.
Asked what her ambitions are for Ria, Sunitha doesn't hesitate.
"I want her to be a Mother Theresa, but I want her to have a life, too," she said. "As a mom, I want to see her help the world, be there like a role model and just be a beautiful woman. Be a president? Yes, good, you know, but, be kind!"
Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com