When a 13-year-old girl was finishing up two college degrees from two separate universities and had just graduated from high school, she got admitted to medical school.
Despite being nearly ten years younger than the typical medical student, Alena Analeigh Wicker was admitted into the University of Alabama’s Heersink School of Medicine class of 2024 in June.
She is the youngest black student to be accepted to medical school and received her acceptance while still pursuing her degrees in biological sciences at Arizona State University and Oakwood University.
‘What is age?’ Alena told The Washington Post, ‘You’re not too young to do anything. I feel like I have proven to myself that I can do anything that I put my heart and mind to.’
Alena completes the majority of her education online and resides outside of Fort Worth, Texas.
She is also the creator of the group Brown STEM Girl, which aims to encourage girls of color to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Alena stated of the initiative, “We’re showing the world that there are other girls out there who are just like me, and they deserve an opportunity and a chance.”
Alena was adopted by her mother, Daphne McQuarter, who claimed to have recognized her daughter’s differences at a young age.
‘Alena was gifted,’ McQuarter explained, saying she knew Alena was special as early as three-years-old, ‘It was just how she did things and how advanced she was. She was reading chapter books.’
She flew threw schoolwork, and was so intelligent in her early years that her mother had to home-school her to avoid the bullying from kids who called her things like ‘smarty pants.’
By the fifth grade though she returned to the classroom, but instead of studying the typical ten-year-old fare she focused on an advanced high school curriculum.
‘I was bored,’ Alena said, ‘The high school work was so easy for me that I ended up graduating from high school at 12 years old.’
The prodigy also became NASA’s youngest intern last summer, back when she thought she wanted to pursue engineering.
Clayton Turner, director of NASA’s Langley Research Center, hired Alena after coming across a news story about her in which she said she dreamed of working for NASA.
‘Alena is one of those exceptional intellects,’ he said, but clarified her mind wasn’t the only thing that made her stand out, ‘What’s in her is wanting to help others, wanting to lift up others.’
Once Alena began to explore biology in her undergraduate studies, she said she knew right away it was the path for her.
‘I wasted no time. I dropped a class, changed my major, and when I took my first biological class, I knew in that moment that this is what I’m supposed to be doing,’ Alena said.
In an Instagram post announcing her acceptance, she thanked her mother for her accomplishments.
‘Mama I made it. I couldn’t have done it without you,’ Alena wrote, ‘You gave me every opportunity possible to be successful. You cheered me on, wiped my tears, gave me oreos when I needed comfort, you never allowed me to settle, disciplined me when I needed . You are the best mother a kid could ever ask for.’
To people who say she is missing out on her childhood, Alena couldn’t agree less.
‘I don’t think I’m missing any part of my childhood. I get a childhood, and it’s amazing.’
Alena is a Lego fanatic, posting many of her building projects on her Instagram account, and says she loves cooking, singing, going to arcades with friends, and playing soccer.
Despite her mounting degrees, Alena says her success all comes down to focus.
‘I just have extremely good time management skills and I’m very disciplined.’