 Online, she goes by the brown stem girl and owed to her foundation of the same name that encourages girls of color to get into science and math. At 13 years old, Elena Wicker is making history. Yeah! So she has officially been accepted into the University of Alabama. Here's seeing school of medicine at 13 years old. I'm a quarter. I'm 13 years old and in my last year of college. My goals right now are to definitely make it through college so I can go to med school because after I was accepted it was the most amazing moment. And just knowing that I've reached the goal of getting into med school at this age. At 13! It was amazing for me because my goal was to become a viral immunologist. The study of viruses. And really help communities. I wanted to get involved. I love to volunteer. I've done that since I was young. You were young. The youngest African-American to be accepted into med school. And I will be attending med school either next year or the year after the next. And I will be graduating from college in May. I want to change the way people see girls. You know, because as a girl in STEM, not everyone thinks that she's a girl. It's STEM, no way. Yes, it can happen. There are many amazing women who have gone through terrible things. Trying to reach their goals in STEM. And they succeeded and they brought so many other women with them. So that's what I want to do. That is my prayer. That my life shows that God is good. Alina, congratulations on this prestigious recognition. It's so well deserved. And for the members of the organization, you should know that not only are you celebrating Alina's many accomplishments or academic achievements, but you're also celebrating her desire to provide all those gifts, all those achievements for the betterment of others. It's such a blessing to be here on the continent of Africa and in Rwanda. That's a real name, right? You're an inspiration. You said you're 13 years old. Really? Right. How did you do this as a 13-year-old? I was homeschooled most of my life. And I did a little bit of world schooling at a modern Jordan. And over the years I gathered my credits to actually graduate from high school. And they called me out of the blue one day and said, you have enough credits. Would you like to come to graduation with your homeschool coalition and graduate and go to college? And I was like, yes, I'd love to. You planned the dates. I walked up on the stage. I was handed my diploma and I graduated from high school. And I think it was either that year or the year after that year that I started applying to different colleges. And a few colleges that I had in mind were Oakwood University and Arizona State. I had a scholarship at Oakwood, so I went to Oakwood. And then after being accepted to Arizona State, I also got to scholarship at Arizona. I'm in both colleges with a major in biological sciences, biomedical. And it's just been going great. What you're saying is so fascinating. What was that moment when you knew you were so bright? Well, at the time I wasn't really thinking about all the things I was doing. I was just doing what I loved. I'm going about my journey through college with people starting to recognize that there was a 13-year-old in college. And it was everywhere. Did you know early on? I did. I did. What was it? She was just always smart, gifted, and she was always ahead. And it was just something about her that I knew that I had to nurture her gift. I didn't have the moment. I didn't understand. And to my mom, I explained that you're in college and you're 13. Do you know how big this is? And I was a little bit shocked then. And now I understand that it is a big deal. It's a big deal. A very big deal. Now that you're in college, what is the end? What's your goal? Well, I need to graduate from college. I'm looking forward to that and heading into med school. But while I'm in college, I'm also using my time to give opportunities to girls all over the world and stem through a program I started when I graduated from high school called the Brownstone. The girls you're talking about, are they girls in Africa or just girls in the U.S.? With my program, I focus on girls all over the world, whether it is in Africa, girls of color from anywhere, from India, Iran, from the U.S., Mexico, everywhere. So what exactly do you do for them? I give them lots of opportunities in scholarships to mentorships and taking them across the world to learn STEM because that's the things that people who supported me and my family have given to me and I wanted to give them the same because I just handed those opportunities. I had to work for them and there are girls out there who are willing to work for these things but they aren't given opportunities like I was given. What drives you? What drives me is knowing that I'm an inspiration for people all over the world and that what I'm doing gives bigger ideas to girls that there's someone out there who is doing these great things. I want to do the same. That's what really motivates me and it's also the supporters and the people that I look up to who are looking at me and saying you're doing more than I've done in my entire lifetime. I'm like, well, you're my hero. They're like, well, you're my hero and there's so many connections that I've made that I know I wouldn't have made without other people that I've met and without things that I'm doing. So what do you say for all those regardless of age or who want to go out and contain their dreams and go for what they want? Well, first I would say don't let anybody tell you no because there was a lot of people who told me no or that I couldn't do what I dreamed to do and I also had that support system. They were there when I needed them and they gave me that support to say, don't give up on your dreams. Thank you Cali for the first time. Are you from Rwanda? From California. Born and raised in California? I was born in California in Fontana but I was raised in Texas. You moved from California to Texas? Yes. Why would you move from California to Texas? I think we loved California. It's a place to come and visit. But we wanted to explore an adventure and we ended up in Texas and we kind of just stayed there. Everything is bigger in Texas. And now we've moved and we are staying in Texas. I think your parents should be so proud of you in terms of what you've been able to achieve at the age of 13. How does your parents feel any time they see you? I think my mom is happy. She's happy that her daughter has done something and is doing what she planned for me to do because the one thing she says is I want you to get good grades and show up in the world. And she said I've exceeded that and I'm happy that my mom is happy for me because she's everything. She has done so much for me, giving me opportunities and always being there, so I'm glad she's happy. Is your mom a professor? She's actually not a professor. As she says, she's my mom, but she's more than just a mom. There's no words that can explain. Thank you to my mom. You are the absolute best. As a little girl, you are always determined to give me opportunities over things. So I want to know how does it feel like being an African American living in America? It feels great to know that I am an African American and I'm doing great things in America but there are also big opportunities that are missed for African Americans in America because as African Americans we don't get those opportunities that others get and I think that's important for why I started my program because the girls all over the world and people of color all over the world they deserve those opportunities. How I say it is African Americans, we want those opportunities. People may think that we don't deserve those opportunities but we work hard for what we have and we definitely deserve all of the opportunities that should be given to us. What kind of opportunities are those? Let me introduce you. I used to watch videos and I like your narratives. Thank you so much. How you narrate African narratives. Wow. That's great. Wow. He's a great YouTuber. Guess you know him. What am I? It's a pleasure and a honor to meet you because I didn't know that I would meet you here in Kigali but that's impressive and very incredible to meet you here in Kigali. I used to watch his videos on YouTube. What can I say? Yeah, keep it up bro. We used to portray hungry Africa turned apart by war and sometimes we don't talk about these beautiful things that are happening here and my first video to see about Ethiopia, you did it. And I was like, hey wait, I'm with the word Maya. I cannot talk with him. Hey brother, I'm Evod, that's my name. Okay. And from which country? I'm from Burundi. Oh wow. I'm Steven Murray. Steven, yes. I'm from the US but I live here in Rwanda now. Wow, you moved to Rwanda? Yeah. What brought you to Rwanda? I was living in China doing a lockdown. I started watching YouTube and watched YouTube before. So the first person I saw say anything good about Africa was Vodavaya. Wow. And as a result of that, doing more research, more research, I saw the video of you sitting in the gutter saying, look how clean this place is. So more research and I ended up moving. I'm trying to retire here and just started this store. What is it all about? Stand Africa. We are a organization that, well we're not an organization, we're a for-profit business. We take 50% of our profits and give it to local organizations that help young people. You're doing all that in Rwanda? In Rwanda, yes. Now the idea is for Rwandans to help other Rwandans. One organization that we give to, they told me you're the first person in Rwanda to give to our organization. Other people, everybody else that gives to our organization is from someplace else. So that's the idea. Rwandans helping Rwandans. If we can grow enough, it'll be Africans helping Africans. You'll miss it too, Africans living in the diaspora. Come to Africa, visit, live, retire. Come to know the people on this continent. Don't just go by what you see in the media. Come see for yourself. You'll find that this is a great place, a wonderful place to be, wonderful people. Come to Africa. How do you see Africa? It's amazing. I love the experience and letting read all the history of my ancestors. Wow. What were you expecting before you came in here? What kind of perception do you have for Africa before coming into Africa? I wasn't thinking about moving much. I was just like, I'm going to go to Africa. I'm going to get the experience of what it looks like and of my people. So I wasn't expecting anything. I was just excited to come and find out. And your first country in Africa was? Ghana. How was Ghana? It was great. I actually got to meet a lot of amazing people, including the Minister of Education. I got to go to some of the memorials, W.E. The Voice and some others. And it was just an amazing experience about my history. Okay, and we are in Kigali filming this video. We have to continue. Tell me about the opportunities that you think African Americans are missing. I think there are many opportunities that African Americans miss. But one of them that I focus on is STEM and education. You see that there is a lot of education that is missed in Africa. And that's something that I wanted to fix myself. I wanted to come here and build a school actually. I wanted to build a school for girls in STEM and actually have a place to come and know that. In addition to just excelling academically, you've been pretty busy in terms of philanthropy and community work. And you actually started a nonprofit called the Brown STEM Girl. So tell us about that and what made you want to start it. My organization, the Brown STEM Girl, creates opportunities for girls of color all over the world. My focus in STEM is healthcare and being an advocate in healthcare to underrepresented communities. I have received proclamations from governors in California and Texas declaring April 30th Brown STEM Girl STEM in the City Day. On this day, I'll be hosting in Los Angeles, California the largest gathering of Brainiacs and smart girls in STEM for girls all over the world. I'm 13. And you have a dream of building a school in Africa. Do you have the land yet? I'm working. You're working on it. Can you make me your partner because I want to help you make this dream come true? No. And if you have to raise funds to build a school in Africa, I'm going to help you. I promise you. It's a deal. Wow! That's incredible. She's like, I can't believe it. I feel like she's 13 and she's wise for her age. Too wise for her age. It's so inspiring to black girls like me what you're doing. So thank you so much for chasing your dreams and not letting what other people say limit you. Thank you. Alayna Annaleef Makata is an American student who is the youngest black person to be accepted into medical school in the United States and the second youngest person to be accepted into medical school overall. She is also the youngest person to ever work as an intern at NASA. I had my internship at NASA. I had my internship at 12. That's NASA JPL in California. How was each working at NASA? It was good. I was actually online because it was during COVID times. But it was so amazing experience getting to see all of the projects that we're working on and all of the past projects that they had worked on. Then I was in love with rovers and I was like, I'm going to build my own rover to go to Mars one day. I want to build rovers, help build maybe even a spaceship one day that goes to Mars or even a planet that we haven't thought about yet. If there is life out there, she wants to be the one to discover it. We could be all moving to Mars one day. And NASA was the first thing I had ever seen in STEM. So I wanted to be an engineer and that was the first thing I majored in when I went to college. But it wasn't what I really wanted to do for the future. She now wants to be Dr. Elena Wicker, MD instead, hoping to become a viral immunologist, a doctor that studies viruses. I think the viral immunology really came from my passion for volunteering and going out there and engaging with the world. So I made the change to medicine, but I always say that keeping NASA close to me because I keep my options open. And NASA was always there. But why medicine though? I fell in love with health care. I always loved helping people and I loved volunteering. And I think also the trip to Amman, Jordan that me and my mom took to do world schooling also felt that because I saw that health care was needed and underrepresented communities and that we need more health care out there for people who may not be able to get health care. So I started medicine and one thing that struck me was viral. And I was like, I want to go into viral health care and I want to become a viral immunologist one day. So that's what I made me for at med school. What was your final message to young Black girls out there? I would say never give up on your dreams because there were many people who told me no and that I was too young because of the color of my skin that I couldn't do what I'm doing today. And that's what I want them to know that they can do anything that they put their minds to doesn't matter what skin color you have or what age you are. You can do anything because you are your only limit. I think for you, age does not matter. Because I mean I believe in whatever I put in my mind. If I say I'm going to go to India and create a group of girls there in India who will change the world I'm looking forward to doing that in the future and I know it's going to happen someday. Do you actually face challenges in what you do? I do. What are the kind of challenges that you face? Well, since I am an African American there are some things that are offered and some people may not know that we know that it's offered because we're African Americans but we know that we don't get the best of the best because of our skin color at least we fight to get those things. But you're young and I don't think your skin color needs to define you. In America, skin color defines it. Race is a matter of young age. My mom taught me that there will be challenges that I'd be judged because of my skin color. I knew that if I did what I did I'd be changing the lives of me so I just kept doing what I thought. Never give up on yourself. Little girl, you can. To every girl of color around the world this is for you. The sky is in the limit. You are your only limit. Little girl will forever advocate for you and create space for you. To all the amazing women who have left the imprint of their feet before me so I would have a light and a path to see. I now leave my imprint for little girls like me. Where can people find you? I'm on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, it's Elena on LA but Facebook and Instagram is the Brownstone girl and you can also go to my website thebrownstonegirl.com