News

13-year-old Fort Worth girl becomes youngest Black person ever to be accepted to medical school

Fort Worth’s Alena Analeigh McQuarter landed in the record books this summer as the youngest Black person ever accepted to medical school.

The 13-year-old is currently a junior in college, attending Arizona State University and Oakwood University at the same time online.

She is one year away from graduating with a double Bachelor’s degree.

She will attend a master’s program before attending medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine.

This isn’t the first time McQuarter made history. At 12 years old, she became the youngest person to ever intern with NASA. Since, she’s decided she has set her sights on the medical field.

“I was like, this is what I want to do. I want to go into healthcare. I want to help others and get involved with underrepresented communities,” she said. “There are viruses all over the world that don’t have cures and I want to be the person who helps to find those cures.”

McQuarter also started her own foundation, Brown STEM Girl, which offers mentorship and encouragement to girls to follow their dreams, and consider careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

On top of studying, Alena also travels, plays soccer and bakes.

Her mother, Daphne McQuarter, says it is important for her daughter to have balance.

“It was my job to nurture the gift I saw in her and understanding her as a kid and letting her have the space to be a kid,” she said.

Alena says she couldn’t have achieved her goals without her mom by her side.

“From that young age she always saw something special in me. She knew there was something different, and she used it as a chance to show me that there’s a whole world out there that needs what I am doing right now.”

 

Related Posts

Sam Cooke: African-American Singer Known as the “King of Soul”

Samuel “Sam” Cooke was a Black American recording artist and singer-songwriter, generally considered among the greatest of all time was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 in Clarksdale, MS, on this date in…

Ella Sheppard – A Black musician, vocalist, and educator.

Ella Sheppard (February 4, 1851 – June 9, 1914) was an American soprano, pianist, composer, and arranger of spirituals. She was the matriarch of the original Fisk Jubilee…

Cynthia Lynne Cooper-Dyke – One of the greatest female basketball players ever.

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke (𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 April 14, 1963, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is an American basketball player who was the first Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). In the WNBA’s inaugural season (1997), Cooper-Dyke led…

Juanita Moore: the Oscar nominee who fought stereotypes and racism

The Imitation of Life star was pigeonholed and undervalued by Hollywood but years later, she is finally receiving the recognition she deserves “Iwent through a hell of a…

Henry Ossian Flipper – First African American graduate of West Point

Henry Ossian Flipper, 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia, in 1856, becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New…

Carl Anthony Payne II’s Wife: Meet Melika Payne, the Woman Who Ditched Bobby Brown for the ‘Martin’ Star

Carl Anthony Payne II and his wife Melika Payne are one of Hollywood’s quietest and longest-running married couples. But their marriage has not been without bumps and controversy, including…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *