TAMPA, Fla. — ABC Action News first introduced you to Bhavya Bansal back in 2023 when she graduated from high school at the age of 16. Well, she’s done it again, this time graduating from college at the age of 18.
“Just because your dreams look different or are not something that have been done before, it doesn’t mean that you can’t do it,” said Bansal, who was valedictorian of her Middleton High School graduating class with an 11.3 GPA.
Bansal went on to Case Western University, this time earning a four-year degree in just two years. Not only was she a double major and double minor, but she even created her own major.
“It’s called ‘Biology and Society,’ so it’s that mix of the interdisciplinary biology aspect as well as society, medical sociology, medical anthropology,” said Bansal.
When she wasn’t blazing her own trail, she was helping other students blaze theirs through her mentor program, Make Your Name. She’s helped more than 150 high school students get accepted into their dream schools.
“Helping them from a student-to-student perspective really inspires them to do better and also inspires them to take their motivations and reach their goals,” said Bansal.
If you’re wondering how she had the time to achieve all this, Bansal documented the whole journey on social media.
“It definitely felt surreal. I haven’t fully processed it,” said Bansal.
Next, Bansal will return to Case Western to attend medical school, something she’s already been training for as an intern at Dr. Jawan Ayer’s Hematology, Oncology, and Sickle Cell Center in Tampa.
“Something I’ve been really passionate about since my freshman year of high school has been sickle cell disease, and so this is why I just love working here,” said Bansal. “At this point in time, there is actually no cure for sickle cell disease, and that’s something that I’ve been researching.”
Bansal's ultimate goal is to one day be a surgeon, and at the rate she’s going, there are plenty of reasons to believe it’s going to happen sooner rather than later.
“It doesn’t matter how many people tell you that you can’t do it, or people stand in your way and say that, ‘it’s too hard, you don’t have what it takes.' Nothing is impossible,” said Bansal.
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