MEET ONE OF THE SMARTEST TEEN IN THE WORLD

Only very few at her age achieve remarkable feat. Saheela Ibraheem has brought herself global scene. She engraved her name on the rock of history when on Thursday, February 26, was honoured with an official  reception in the White House by the US President, Barack Obama and the First Lady, Michelle.

She has been recognized as one of the World’s 50 smartest teenagers in 2015. Ibraheem speaks 4 languages and is currently studying Neurobiology in Harvard University. She was also accepted for admission by 13 other top colleges in the United States, including the MIT, Princeton, Columbia, and six Ivy League institutions, choosing Harvard, she became one of the youngest students, at the age of 15, to ever attend the university. She will be graduating in May this year.

After an introductory message by Ibraheem in the White House, President Obama stated that “there are a lot of teenagers in the world. Saheela is like one of the 50 smartest ones. That’s pretty smart. And she’s a wonderful young lady. She’s like the State Department and the National Institute of Health all rolled into one. And we are so proud of your accomplishments and all that lies ahead of you. And you reflect our history. Young people like you inspire our future.”

Saheela Ibraheem said passion was her major drive. “If you are passionate about what you do, and I am passionate about most of these things, especially with math and science, it will work out well,” she said.

Ibraheem’s recognition and reception was part of the “Black History Month” celebration in the US, which comes up in February.

 

Here’s a bit of what The Best Schools website had to say about the teenager,

At just 15 years old, Saheela Ibraheem was accepted into Harvard University, which makes her among the youngest students ever to attend that school. But that’s not the most impressive part, Saheela was accepted at 12 other colleges, including MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Brown, Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Chicago.

Saheela’s Nigerian parents, totally supportive of the young scholar, sometimes taught her subjects the schools didn’t offer.

Saheela believes the key to success is knowing what you love to learn as early as possible, a knowledge she says she came to at age five. “If you are passionate about what you do, and I am passionate about many things, especially math and science, it will work out well.” The teen is also interested in languages, and knows Yoruba, Arabic, Spanish, and Latin, in addition to English.

As for her own brain, Saheela claims she is nothing special. “I try my best in everything I do,” Saheela said. “Anyone who’s motivated can work wonders.”

The ranking was done by TheBestSchools.org