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15-year-old takes title from sister as youngest Columbus State graduate

For the second time in two years, one Reynoldsburg family has set the record for the youngest Columbus State graduate at 15 years old.

You might remember Danya Hamad.

10TV did a story on her, last year when she was believed to be the youngest person to ever graduate from Columbus State with an associate of arts degree. She was 15.

At least she was believed to be the youngest.

"It's amazing," David Hamad said. "I feel good and I feel accomplished."

Daoud "David" Hamad is one year and three months Danya's junior, which means when he receives his associate of science degree from Columbus State in a couple weeks, it would make him the youngest graduate.

"Yeah, I was thinking 'I'm going to beat her," David joked of taking the title from his sister.

"There's always going to be a part of me that's just like 'Well, dang. I wish that I could keep holding on to that title'," Danya said. "But, I'm very proud to give it to my brother.

If that's not impressive enough, David is technically graduating from college before high school.

He attends Reynoldsburg High School. When he was in seventh grade he took College Credit Plus, which allowed him to get dual credit for college classes at Columbus State. In three years he's gathered 64 hours of credit. Only 61 are needed to graduate.

"Ever since I was a kid I said I wanted to be a heart surgeon," David said. "Other kids are like 'I want to be a police officer, I want to be an astronaut'. I want to be a doctor and not just a doctor...I want to be a heart surgeon."

After he graduates both Columbus State and high school in May he'll attend Capital University in the Fall where he'll start as a junior majoring in biology and pre-med. Then, it's to med school at the University of Chicago so he can get his doctor of medicine. He plans to do all of this by the time he's 21 years old.

"We just all love learning," he said. "Because learning is everything."

Danya, 16, starts law school at Capital University in the Fall. She hopes to complete law school in three years. She'll be 19. Both Hamad teens have received full scholarships to Capital University.

After that, Danya wishes to pursue a LLM degree, specializing in international human rights.

"I just want to help the world and help the people and it doesn't matter what nationality or what religion, what race, anything," she said. "It doesn't matter what you are. We are all human beings and we all deserve to be treated as such."

There are many contributors the Hamad teens say helped them along the way. They say their mother is a driving force to their success, always believing in the goals they set for themselves.

The teens say they also do not engage in social media, calling it an unnecessary distraction.

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