A thirteen-year-old child prodigy has been accepted into medical school just a year after graduating high school.
Alena Analeigh became the youngest African American to be admitted into med school after she received an early acceptance letter from the University of Alabama's Heersink School of Medicine in May.
Although she won’t beging classes until Fall 2024, Alena has plenty of things on her plate at the moment. She is currently enrolled in double undergraduate biological science programs at Arizona State University and Oakwood University.
The teenager’s accomplishments don’t stop there. Right after graduating college last year, Alena became Nasa’s youngest intern.
Alena, who lives just outside Fort Worth, Texas, with her mother, credited her time management skills and discipline for her impressive resume and success.
“What is age?” Alena told The Washington Post last week. “You’re not too young to do anything. I feel like I have proven to myself that I can do anything that I put my heart and mind to.”
Alena’s hunger to learn became evident from a young age.
By age two, she had already started learning how to read and developed a love for Legos that remains to this day. In the fifth grade, she began learning high school algebra.
A self-starter and a science enthusiast, Alena told the Post she is most proud of being able to inspire young girls to explore career paths in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).
Alena initially dreamed of becoming a flight surgeon but found out her true calling was medicine after starting college last year.
She will join the medical programme at the University of Michigan through a partnership between the university and HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities).
Alena, who is currently a junior in college, said her mother instilled discipline, commitment and taught her ‘‘to think beyond and see beyond”.
“My mom is amazing. She gave me opportunities more than things,” she told the Post.
"Statistics would have said I never would have made it. A little black girl adopted from Fontana[,] California," she added.
Last year, Alena founded Brown STEM Girl, a project that became a finalist for 2022’s TIME’s Top Kid of the Year. The organisation seeks to offer support for girls of color and create opportunities for them in the STEM fields.
The teenager might also have a collaboration in the works with Mattel after she tagged the brand on Instagram and boldly asked to do business. The toy giant was impressed by her determination.
‘’Hi Alena! Your mom is right. No ask is too big. We saw your message and would love to connect with you. Please send us a direct email so we can reach out!’’ the brand replied on the platform.
“It feels amazing to be able to create a path for girls that look like me,” Alena told the Post. “It doesn’t matter how old you are. You can do it. Don’t let anybody tell you no.”
