By the age of 13, most teenagers have their own goals in life: talking to the crush from the parallel class, learning tricks with a skateboard, going to the Harry Styles concert, secretly taking a drag on a cigarette in the corner of the schoolyard. None of this will have a significant (good) influence on the rest of your life, but you wouldn't want to miss such experiences afterwards.
13-year-old Alena from the USA, however, has completely different goals. She is already starting medical school. And that after she had just completed her bachelor's degree in different fields of biochemistry at two different universities at the same time. It sounds extremely amazing and formidable - but the girl assures: "I'm still a normal 13-year-old." She likes to go to the cinema, plays soccer, loves to bake and meets friends. But then what is her secret?
Alena says: "I just have extremely good time management skills and I'm very disciplined." And so she got hold of one of the coveted places at the University of Alabama, which offers special places at its medical institute for particularly talented younger applicants. However, the other first-year students there are on average a good ten years older than Alena. But the girl doesn't care: "No one is too young to do anything. I think I've proven that I can achieve anything if I put my heart into it."
Already at the age of three Alena had taught herself to read, in general she learned quickly. When this caused her difficulties in elementary school because she was teased, her mother decided to homeschool her. She didn't go back to school until fifth grade, but she got so bored there that she did the work for the upper grades online after school. At the age of 12 she had her high school diploma in her pocket. Because she liked the natural sciences best, she then studied biochemistry for a bachelor's degree. She toyed with the idea of working for NASA.
But Alena also always had a desire to help others. That's why she decided to study medicine rather than space. And she did something else: She founded the organization "Brown STEM Girl". This is intended to make it easier for non-white girls and women to enter science. Because although there are more and more women in subjects such as mathematics, computer science, mechanical engineering, biology or chemistry, which were previously mostly a male domain, only an extremely small percentage of them are black. Alena wants to change that.
"I want to say to every young girl out there: never give up, never believe anyone that you can't do something," she said in an interview with the Washington Post. She hopes that with her amazing academic career she can be an inspiration to others - especially girls who are non-white or from privileged backgrounds and who are interested in subjects that are more male-dominated.
Sources: Washington Post, Instagram
