PLEASE DON'T CALL ME

ALENA ANALEIGH WAS JUST 13 YEARS OLD WHEN SHE WAS ACCEPTED TO MEDICAL SCHOOL THIS YEAR. AS AMAZING AS THAT IS, THERE'S WAY MORE TO THIS INSANELY IMPRESSIVE FUTURE DOC THAN JUST BEING SMART.

- KAYLEIGH ROBERTS

For the most part, I'm a very normal teen. I love to play sports, hang out with my friends and post videos of myself singing on Instagram. But there are also things about me that aren't so typical. To start with, I am in college. And I'm also the youngest Black person to be accepted to medical school: This year, at 13, learned a spot in the Early Assurance Program at the University of Alabama's Heersink School of Medicine for 2024.

I didn't always want to be a doctor, but I've always known I would end up in a STEM (which stands for science, technology, engineering and math) field. I'm so passionate about this area, in fact, that a year and a half ago I started Brown STEM Girl, an organization to support women of color pursuing math- and science-related fields.

My passion for science started young: I was just 3 or 4 years old when my mom noticed how much I enjoyed sitting out in the middle of the desert to stare at the stars. So she began taking me to astronomy nights and on trips to visit different NASA centers. She'd say, "I want you to see where you want to be."

At the time, I noticed there were not many people who looked like me working at NASA. Pretty soon after that, I developed a goal of becoming the youngest Black girl to be employed by NASA-which I achieved last summer when I became their youngest-ever intern.