Among the millions who are celebrating having received their university diplomas in the US this spring is a 15-year-old girl from Oklahoma, one of the youngest ever American college graduates.
Shania Muhammad graduated from Oklahoma’s Langston University with a bachelor of arts degree as well as a 4.0 grade-point average that was the highest in her class, according to a recent report from the local news media outlet KOCO-TV. She said she plans to pursue a career in public speaking and publish a book about her experience in school titled Read, Write, Listen: 13 in College.
“My biggest thing is … just spreading my story,” Muhammad told KOCO. “Showing others, ‘Trust me, it’s possible.’”
College graduates in their early teen years aren’t unprecedented but remain rare. The history and culture website oldest.org has compiled a list of the 10 youngest college graduates, and Muhammad is about the same age as number 10 on that compilation: Kathleen Holtz, who graduated with a bachelor’s in philosophy from California State University in 2004.
All of those on the oldest.org list earned numerous advanced degrees, and many have embarked on successful medical, legal and academic careers.
Muhammad told KOCO that she and her family began preparing for her to complete college at an unusually early age when she was about eight, when many US students are in second grade (year four in the UK).
“I didn’t wake up one day and say, ‘Hey, Dad, sign me up for college,’” Muhammad said to the station. “There were levels before I even got to this point.”
Not only did she complete her high school studies at an age at which many children are still going through what in the US is known as middle school. She had attained associate’s – or two-year – degrees from Langston and Oklahoma City Community College before setting her sights on her bachelor’s.
Muhammad had accumulated the credits required for her bachelor’s at the same time as her older brother and sister did while also attending Langston. The three siblings walked across the graduation stage together on 6 May, a moment that left their father bursting with pride.
“It took a lot of work, but seeing the finish line, seeing all three of my kids walk across the stage together at Langston University last Saturday was a surreal moment,” Elijah Muhammad told KOCO.
Shania Muhammad said her commitment to her success was about much more than just an interest in being as educated as possible.
“We are the invisible Black scholars of this world,” Muhammad said to the station. “We don’t have the press that the athletes, the artists, the social media influencers do because we are unrecognized in society.”
She said she hoped her public speaking plans change that and inspire others to emulate “what we do here in the Muhammad house”.
“It just takes a team and hard work,” Shania Muhammad said.
#girl #graduated #college #invisible #Black #scholars #universities
