14-year-old Anita Bennett has earned her third college degree before finishing her first year of high school.

When 14-year-old Anita Bennett walked across the stage at the 2023 commencement ceremony at Cuyahoga Community College, the audience erupted into rapturous applause. Not only was she graduating summa cum laude, she was also receiving her associate of science degree, making history as the first person to earn three degrees before finishing her first year of high school.

But Bennett wasn't done yet; she had plans to go even further. According to ABC News 5 Cleveland, Bennett intends to pursue a bachelor's degree before she finishes high school. This is partly due to Ohio's dual enrollment program, College Credit Plus, which enables students to take both high school and college-level courses at the same time, allowing them to experience the demands of higher education.

As a freshman at Ohio Connections Academy, Bennett had already earned two degrees: an associate of arts and associate technical studies in child care, administration, and management. Reflecting on her success, Bennett said, “When you don’t know about college, that kind of stuff, it can seem really, really hard, and it could seem impossible at times. But just knowing that if you put your mind to it, you can do it and that the sky’s the limit and you create your own boundaries.”

Bennett's ambition can be attributed to her family's dedication to education and hard work. Her older sisters began taking college courses at 13 and 11, respectively. But it's her mother's dedication to maintaining her own business that has truly inspired the 14-year-old. Bennett said, “Seeing my mother and how hard she worked and how she got her business running and how successful it was really inspired me to go to that field as well. And I’ve always had a passion and a love for children, so I knew I wanted to do something like that with my life. So seeing her already have a successful business, it only makes sense to me to take over that when I get older since I wanted to work in the childcare industry as well.”

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