Anita Bennett is not your average teenager. At 14 years old, she has already accomplished what many adults can only dream of: earning three college degrees before finishing her first year of high school.
Anita, who lives in Ohio, is part of the state’s dual enrollment program College Credit Plus, which allows her to take high school and college courses simultaneously. Through this program, she has earned an associate of arts, an associate of technical studies in 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 care, administration, and management, and most recently, an associate of science from Cuyahoga Community College .
Anita graduated summa cum laude and received her associate of science degree at the 2023 commencement ceremony on May 19, where she was met with rapturous applause and a special recognition from the college president. She said that her motivation comes from her passion for learning and her family’s dedication to education.
“I’ve always had a passion and a love for 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren, so I knew I wanted to do something like that with my life,” Anita said. “Seeing my mother and how hard she worked and how she got her business running and how successful it was really inspired me to go to that field as well.”
Anita’s mother runs a five-star licensed home 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥care service, which Anita plans to take over someday. Her mother is not the only role model in her family. Her older sisters also started taking college courses at 13 and 11 years old, respectively. Anita said that she learned from their experiences and advice.
“When you don’t know about college, that kind of stuff, it can seem really, really hard, and it could seem impossible at times. But just knowing that if you put your mind to it, you can do it and that the sky’s the limit and you create your own boundaries,” Anita said.
Anita is not alone in her remarkable achievement. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were about 70,000 students under the age of 18 who earned associate degrees in the United States in 2019. However, Anita stands out as one of the youngest and most prolific among them.
Anita is not done yet. She plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree before she finishes high school and continue her education beyond that. She said that she hopes to inspire other young people to follow their dreams and pursue higher education.
“I hope that they see that anything is possible if you put your mind to it and if you work hard,” Anita said. “And I hope that they see that education is very important and that it can open up a lot of doors for you in life.”
Anita is an exceptional young lady, and we at Rising Africa want to celebrate her today. Another amazing young lady worth celebrating is Brittney Exline. Brittney is not your average 19-year-old. She is the youngest African-American engineer in the United States, and the youngest engineer to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, one of the Ivy League schools. She is also fluent in five languages, versed in psychology, math and classical studies, and a former pageant winner and dancer.
Exline’s story is one of remarkable talent, hard work and perseverance. She was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 two weeks after her due date, on Valentine’s Day, and showed signs of exceptional intelligence from an early age. She could walk at eight months, complete jigsaw puzzles at 15 months, and read by the age of two. Her parents, Chyrese and Christopher Exline, encouraged her to pursue her interests and challenged her to excel academically.
Exline skipped two grades in elementary school and graduated from high school at 15, with an International Baccalaureate diploma. She studied anthropology at Harvard University while still in secondary school and later received a full scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. There, she majored in computer science and minored in math, psychology and classical studies. She took up to 6.5 classes per semester and graduated cum laude in May 2011. Read more about Brittney here.
