Sydney Wilson, who just turned 14 last week, is set to start her freshman year at Spelman College this fall. This achievement will make her the youngest student to ever be admitted into the prestigious all-women HBCU.
According to WSBTV, Wilson has always been an excellent student, but when she reached the second grade, it became clear that she was a little different from her peers.
Wilson told the news station that although many of her classmates would tease her about being too smart, she didn’t let it get to her.
“I just stayed on my path,” the grounded 14-year-old said. “I didn’t really feel like I needed to be popular … because, I mean, I like myself.”
Also noticing Wilson’s abilities, her parents decided to enroll her in Wilson Academy in Lithonia, where she started taking high school classes at 10 years old.
Fast forward to a few months ago, and the then 13-year-old decided to take the next step in her education, applying to Spelman. The school then reached out to Wilson’s father in an email, letting him know that his daughter had been accepted.
“So, he calls me in and he says, ‘Look at the computer!’ So I looked at it, and I just melt,” Wilson said. “I was screaming and I was crying. I ran out to tell my family, and we took a bunch of pictures and posted it on Instagram and everything.”
Even though Wilson is still so young, she intends to have a full college experience, and will live on campus like the other students. Wilson said she doesn’t think there’s any reason to worry about the age gap between her and her soon-to-be school mates.
“I’ve been with the older kids all my life, so socially, I don’t think it will be a problem for me,” she said.
And as always, the teen has big plans ahead of her, planning to major in biology, with the hopes of one day using animal science to come up with cures for human illnesses.