High school graduation season is just around the corner and seniors all over the country will boast about their achievements in school, but there’s one student in New Orleans who recently made the news and arguably raised the bar for every kid in the country.

Dennis Maliq Barnes, 16, became an academic superstar last week when he garnered national recognition for his impeccable record as a student. Currently a student at the prestigious International High School in New Orleans, he’s been accepted into 182 colleges and universities and has received more than $9 million in scholarships. A spokesperson for the school told BET that they are attempting to get the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize his accomplishment, but the process for that is lengthy and no record has been published yet.

Boasting a cumulative grade point average of 4.98, Barnes is dually enrolled at Southern University of New Orleans where he’s earning college credit while still in high school. His ultimate goal is to earn a dual degree in both computer science and criminal justice.

In addition to his studies, Barnes holds a leadership position in his school’s National Honor Society chapter. He took some time from his studies to talk about his academic journey and his plans for the future.

BET.com: Who influenced you to pursue academic excellence?

Dennis Barnes: Both my parents, Dennis Barnes Sr. and Reba Barnes, are college-educated Black people. They both graduated from Xavier University in New Orleans so they’ve always pushed education and encouraged me to go down that path. They always taught me just how important education is.

BET.com: Have you always been a great student or did you evolve over time?

Barnes: I've always been the student I am but I think that I realized it in high school. I've never been like a bad student [getting] C's and D’s. I've always had A's and B's but when I got to high school, I just made it my business to be a straight-A student. It started there and opportunities just started opening up for me.

BET.com: You’ve spoken about how attending International High School has been significant to your development. Were their teachers or administrators who mentored you?

Barnes: We have a really good counselor named Ms. Denise [James]. I give her a lot of credit for the pathway that I've gone down. She opened up a lot of doors for me by guiding me through high school and the process of applying for colleges.

Another thing that I will credit International for and one of the reasons that I did choose to transfer to this school is its language program. There are a lot of different languages that they offer.  When I got to this school,  I was fluent in Spanish already but this past year I've been enrolled in Spanish III. This is a class that we have. It was very similar to my middle school and elementary experience which was language immersion.

So all of my homework, all of my teachers, everything I did was in Spanish. We have a lot of students that come from out of the country they speak Spanish fluently. This class is designed to elevate you and make your Spanish more elegant. It’s just like how we take English classes to get better at English.

BET.com: You applied to more than 200 colleges and so far, you’ve already received acceptance letters from over 180 schools. How were you able to apply to so many schools?

Barnes: I started off in August at the beginning of the year because I knew what I wanted to do.  I started applying to schools that interest me and as I began to get acceptance letters with scholarship money, I saw the numbers increasing exponentially. I just got to a point where I just wanted to keep it going.

BET.com: Have you made a decision on what school you’ll be attending? What are you looking for in a school?

Dennis Barnes-I haven’t made my decision yet. On Friday, May 5 at 10:30 a.m. CT during a special press conference I plan to make the announcement. I want to go to a university that will pay for my education so I can set myself up financially. And of course, I want to go to a school that is known for quality education.

BET.com: How have your family and friends responded to all the attention you've been receiving?

Barnes:They have definitely been supportive. They all have been encouraging me to keep doing what I'm doing and I have to give them credit. I also have to give glory and honor to God for waking me up every morning, and giving me the diligence and dedication to keep going.

BET.com: What advice would you give to other high schoolers who are thinking about applying to colleges?

Barnes: I would just say to keep God first and be determined to accomplish whatever you set your mind to do.We're not all going to have the same goals, the same dreams, and aspirations. But whatever you decide to do, put your mind to it and make it a priority.