Harvard Senior and Nigerian-American Saheela Ibraheem commended by President Obama

Saheela Ibraheem,19, was named one of the World’s 50 Smartest Teenagers.The United States  President Barrack Obama commended her at a reception celebrating Black History Month. Saheela Ibraheem was only 15 years old when she 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.

Watch President Obama’s commendation HERE

Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza