19 Year-Old Harvard Senior, Nigerian-American Saheela Ibraheem Commended by President Obama

Saheela Ibraheem was named one of the World’s 50 Smartest Teenagers, and U.S. President Obama met and commended her on this feat at a reception celebrating Black History Month.

The teenager had the honour of introducing the President and First Lady Michelle Obama at the event.

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.”

Watch President Obama commend Saheela!

Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza