A 19-year-old Black woman is set to make history next month when she graduates from law school.
Haley Taylor Schlitz will become the youngest law school graduate in the nation.
According to SMU Dedman Law School’s press release, Schlitz began attending the school at the ripe age of 16. It only took Schlitz three years to earn her law degree — She’ll officially graduate on May 13.
Schlitz told Texas Lawyer Magazine that the LSAT was “really fun” for her.
“I didn’t really see it as a test, per se, but more like a game. It was awesome,” Schlitz said.
Schlitz graduated from high school when she was 13-years-old. After her high school graduation, the prospective lawyer went to community college and graduated from Texas Woman’s University before beginning law school.
From a young age, Schlitz and her parents were looking for more from the public education system.
“I was just being taught to pass the end-of-the-year test to get to the next grade,” Schlitz told Birmingham Times. “I wasn’t being taught to learn.”
While in public school, Schlitz wasn’t allowed to take the test to join the gifted program — her parents had to have her privately tested to find out that she was gifted.
Now, Schlitz wants to fight for inequality as a lawyer. Her experience as a Black woman denied of the opportunity to be in the gifted program “sparked a fire” in her.
