Shania Muhammad is America’s youngest teacher at 16 and will graduate with her MBA in May.
At 16 years old, Shania Muhammad is always found in the classroom like other students of her age.
However, a major difference here is that Muhammad is the one taking charge as she is a full-time teacher.
She is America’s youngest teacher. Mind you, this isn’t the only feather in her cap though, Muhammad, who is a social media influencer and speaker is also the youngest student to graduate from Langston University at the age of 15.
The talented teen reveals how education has always been a significant factor in her family of five.
Along with the above achievements she is also the holder of two associate’s degrees, one from Oklahoma City Community College and another from Langston.
Despite such accomplishments, Muhammad told PEOPLE that they were never “part of the plan.”
She further explained when everything underwent a drastic change during the COVID-19 pandemic, her dad decided to homeschool her.
SIMILAR: Read about a brilliant teen from India, who won the Samsung Solve For Tomorrow contest!
And due to this she “accelerated so fast” since she focused on more important things like the “ACT, writing college-level essays, reading college-level material.”
This led to better understanding and she progressed faster than what the regular school system would’ve put her through.
Despite her early success, Muhammad acknowledges that she had a lot of rejections when it was time to submit her college application.
Even with her remarkable $3.2 million scholarship offers and a score of 22 ACT, she claims that the offers were unusable because of her age.
Quite a few schools rejected her and even the scholarship offers were unacceptable as age was a major deterrent for all of them.
The 16-year-old teacher claims to have even called college representatives to convince them to give her a chance.
Muhammad chronicled her entire educational path in her book – Read, Write, Listen: 13 in College, How I Did It.
She adds that it was a “wonderful feeling” for her to have the opportunity to seek higher education each time.
Every time Muhammad receives an email or letter in the mail informing her that she has been accepted, she and her family are ecstatic.
Soon after receiving her college degree, she was offered a position by an Oklahoma City principal the very following day.
Muhammad decided to hold off on getting her license until she was sixteen to avoid having to stand in line with her pupils for pickup.
She is now a teacher of grade three students and had no idea that she was the youngest teacher in the country until a parent told her about it.
Although an official statement from the Guinness World Records is awaited, Muhammad has checked with them before mentioning the fact that she is “America’s youngest teacher”.
SIMILAR: Read about these two Long Island High School twins named valedictorian and salutatorian.
Muhammad says her students have always respected her, despite some parents having expressed mistrust due to her age.
She explains to her kids that they aren’t too “far-fetched” because she was in their position just a few years ago.
She still resides with her parents and has a lot of exciting things planned. She intends to pursue a PhD after earning her MBA in May.
Muhammad tries hard to strike a balance between her full-time job, where she works like any other adult. At the same time, she also loves to have fun like other teens.
She looks forward to creating her curriculum someday while making appearances for various public speaking events.
The successful adolescent thinks that age should never be a barrier to achievement in life. Any age is a good time to start, young or elderly.
Despite everyone telling her no, she discovered her yes, and now that she has an endless imagination, she doesn’t let anybody stop her.