12-Year-Old Black Girl From Florida Makes History, Graduates High School

Nationwide — E’leese Shelton, a 12-year-old African-American girl from Tallahassee, Florida, has made national headlines after graduating from high school at such a young age.

According to her mom, E’leese showed exceptional skills from the age of 2. She said, “I got her a LeapFrog tablet, and we didn’t know that she was self-taught until it was telling her to do the letters, uppercase, lowercase letters, and we didn’t realize that she knew all of it. I did not teach her any of it. She just had the LeapFrog and she knew it.”

Learning to read at age 3 and solving math problems at age 4, E’leese’s academic prowess led her to now graduate high school at just 12 years old.

“It’s just kind of surreal,” E’leese told WDBJ7. “I believe it’s mostly because of my support system, like my friends, my mom, my church community.”

Academic excellence runs in the family, with E’leese’s older brother graduating high school at just 16 years old. Their friendly rivalry pushed E’leese to exceed expectations.

“She told him that she was going to outdo him,” their father Fred said. “So she stuck to her word.”

Her brother, E’ven, expressed pride in his sister’s accomplishment, saying, “The best thing that you could hope for somebody that you love is for them to do something better than you. That’s just what we hope for the next generation.”

Looking ahead, E’leese plans to attend Tallahassee Community College before transferring to Florida State University to pursue her dream of becoming a pediatrician. Remarkably, she aims to start medical school at 16 or 17 years old.

“I feel excited to go on and embrace that journey,” E’leese shared.