A 16-year-old from North Texas became Texas Woman’s University’s youngest graduate. Her older sister had already graduated as the youngest student. Hana Taylor Schlitz stepped across the stage on Friday afternoon to receive her sociology degree. But her education will not stop there. She was recently admitted into TWU’s PhD program in sociology. “I believe it is absolutely hard effort. My parents have always taught me and my siblings that it is all about hard effort; you are not born a genius,” she explained. It is apparent that something runs in the family. Hana’s sister, Hayley, graduated from TWU at 16 years and nine months. Her brother, Ian, graduated high school at age 12, but Hana was adopted from Ethiopia. Her biological mother died of TB. Her father, William Schiltz, recounted, “I remember the first day we went to the orphanage, and they brought Hana to us and we got to hold her for the first time. We had seen pictures and got to hold her.” “We need to get her home,” my wife, a doctor, said as she leaned down to speak with me. It’s not going to happen for her. She weighed less than ten pounds at the age of ten months. She was in critical condition.” After bringing Hana home, her adoptive parents assisted her in regaining her health. In Tarrant County, they reside.
