Summary: A 15-year-old from Ohio hopes to become the youngest law school graduate when she completes school at the age of 19.
While most 15-year-olds are worried about getting their driver’s license or fighting acne, Danya Hamad of Reynoldsburg, Ohio is thinking about the future. The ambitious teenager has just graduated from high school and community college, and she is on her way to earning her bachelor’s and law degree in four years.
If Hamad reaches her goal, she will be the youngest law graduate ever at the age of 19.
“My goal is to become the youngest lawyer in America and from there I want to change the world,” Hamad told NBC.
Hamad completed community college classes after she finished her high school coursework. After she takes a summer vacation, she will finish her bachelor’s degree at Capital University in one year, and then she will finish law school at Capital in three.
Hamad told NBC that she wanted to be a human rights attorney and that she wanted to devote her life to helping people.
Hamad’s principal Kimberley Cox said that Hamad was a part of Reynoldsburg High School’s BELL program, which focuses on business, education, law and leadership; and she was one of 409 students enrolled in the program who have excelled in academics.
“Part of our goal is to meet students where they are, so for the student that wants to excel, want to push forward we have that opportunity available, so we don’t want to hold them back,” Cox said. “We want to encourage all kids to be college and or career ready when they graduate.”
If Hamad graduates from law school by the age of 19, she will be neck in neck with the current youngest law school graduate, Kiwi Camara. Camara graduated from Harvard Law magna cum laude in 2004 at the age of 20, and he is currently partner at the commercial law firm Camara & Sibley.
While Camara excelled at his legal studies, he also found himself in trouble during his first year. After uploading his notes onto a student-sharing website, he faced controversy from African-American students because his notes contained racially insensitive shorthand. In 2005, he tried to publish a paper for The Yale Law Review, and his Harvard notes were brought up again and caused a series of protests.
Camara said that the controversy was a teachable moment for him.
Hamad and Camara may be smart and driven-enough to attend law school as teenagers, but the average age of entering students is 26, according to Prelaw Handbook.
Law schools do not have an age limit on how young or old applicants need to be. The only criteria being that students must have a bachelor’s degree and taken the GRE or LSAT.
- Related: Top 12 Most Expensive Law Schools
- Related: Law School Debt Ranking
- Related: Best Law Schools by Salary Potential
- Related: Top 10 Cheapest Law Schools
Source: NBC4