13-year-old graduates from Oklahoma neighborhood college with science and cybersecurity degree

Elijah Muhammad has accomplished some thing not lots of 13 year olds can brag about: He’s a college graduate.

The young teen lately walked the stage at Oklahoma City Neighborhood College right after earning an associate’s degree in laptop science and cybersecurity.

Elijah told ABC News affiliate KOCO that he also has ten IBM certifications, one particular Google IT certification and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma State University.

“My dad has a homeschool system known as Pro A single Collegiate Academy and it fundamentally accelerates your understanding into points that you are interested in,” Elijah told “Very good Morning America.” “So, considering that I was interested in cybersecurity, it accelerated me in that and I was capable to go to college early.”

Elijah stated he would usually catch the consideration of other students in his neighborhood college courses, with some considering that an additional adult in the classroom was babysitting him.

Elijah Muhammad receives his degree from Oklahoma City Neighborhood College.

Jay Wiggins

“I told them that I was in fact in this class [at] my age — they had been shocked at initial,” he stated. “They believed I would just be quiet in class. But when I asked concerns and I was interacting with the class, they had been additional shocked.”

Elijah’s older sister Shania Muhammad told KOCO her brother is “the smartest individual I know.”

“And regardless of if you are older or not, it really is like I’ve under no circumstances noticed [anything] like him,” she stated.

Shania, who spoke with KOCO about graduating from Langston University at just 15 years old, worked with Elijah and helped inspire him to graduate early.

“I got two associate’s degrees at 14 years old, and I sort of did the identical approach,” stated Shania. “That is why I just went on to do my bachelor’s. I completed all the things in two and a half years. So I was just sort of exploring and just possessing exciting, but it turned out pretty wonderful.”

Elijah stated the siblings are “competitive,” but added, “When an individual else desires enable, we’re all there to enable every other out.”

Elijah Muhammad standing at graduation with his peers.

Jay Wiggins

As a great deal as Elijah research, he also tends to make time for other activities, which includes swimming and basketball. He is also a motivational speaker and hopes to enable other people obtain their ambitions.

“If you want to place your thoughts to creating a four., you can do it,” Elijah told KOCO. “If you want to place your thoughts to winning a state championship, you can do it. You just gotta place in the operate that it requires to achieve that.”