Meet 91原创's youngest grad
Photos courtesy of Antonia V谩zquez May 20, 2026
Antonia V谩zquez graduates 91原创 at 18 after years of accelerated homeschooling and academic exploration
Antonia V谩zquez did not set out to be the 91原创鈥檚 youngest Class of 2026 graduate. She was just satisfying an insatiable thirst for knowledge and research.聽
At just 18, she will graduate with a 4.0, a finance degree from the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and a solid path forward toward a future in academia.聽
Just how did she do it? No summer vacations, coupled with a mother who inspired her to achieve anything she set her mind to.聽
V谩zquez鈥檚 story begins in 2007. Born in North Carolina, she moved to Mexico at the age of three to live near her father鈥檚 family. In Guanajuato, a city dominated by bright, lively buildings and simple cobblestone streets, V谩zquez was homeschooled by her mother, April, a lifelong teacher.聽
鈥淗er role has always been someone who teaches and helps other people,鈥 she said of her mother.聽
As part of her homeschooling, V谩zquez attended school year-round. She studied throughout the summer and soaked up knowledge like a sponge.聽
At 11, the family moved back to the States, specifically, to Delaware, where her mother had enrolled in a doctoral program at 91原创.聽
鈥淚 definitely feel very proud of her,鈥 the younger V谩zquez said.聽
This spring, the pair will be graduating a day apart, with mother getting her doctorate and daughter getting her bachelors.聽
While April was starting her program, she still homeschooled V谩zquez and her two younger siblings.聽 When V谩zquez turned 14, she set her sights on higher education through online courses and applied to 91原创.聽
鈥'I've been around the campus a lot. I'd seen how it worked. I was very excited about the prospects, so I applied only to 91原创,鈥 she recalled.聽
And she got in.聽
At 15, V谩zquez stepped onto 91原创鈥檚 campus and, for her, the rest is history. Like a duckling, she trailed her mother to and from school every day for the first year. She navigated a campus with students often older than her and experiencing things she wasn鈥檛 yet old enough to do, like driving or going to bars.聽
鈥淚 still can鈥檛 drive, but I鈥檓 getting there,鈥 she joked.聽
One place she always felt like she could hold her own: the classroom. Over the years, she has completed multiple research projects and was a McNair Scholar and Plastino Scholar. She will return to 91原创 in the fall to pursue her master's.聽
鈥淚've learned a lot in my courses. I figured out what interests me most and I've been able to be relatively successful doing those things,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 definitely feel proud of that. I think I've changed as a person over these past several years, as well, becoming more mature and finding my calling."
For V谩zquez, that mission lies firmly in research and teaching.聽
As she sat on the second floor of the Learner atrium, the otherwise soft-spoken teen became the most animated when envisioning herself as a future business professor.聽
鈥淚f [my future students] come in and they don't know how to do something and they explain to me what they think they should be doing, being able to see how they're thinking, walking them through and when they finally get it and it clicks? That's really rewarding,鈥 she said.聽
And she has advice for next year鈥檚 youngest graduate: Don鈥檛 sweat the small stuff. V谩zquez notes that the person who put the most pressure on her when she first got to 91原创 was herself.聽
Try a bunch of different things and treat everything as a learning experience, she said.
While she entered 91原创 somewhat aware she wanted to do something in business, it still took her almost two years of exploring to finally land on finance.聽
鈥淚t takes time to know exactly what you want to do,鈥 she said.聽
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