Girl, 16, who battled tuberculosis, becomes youngest graduate at Texas Woman's University

On a day all about celebrating academic achievement, in a sea of graduates, there are some whose accomplishments rise above the crowd.

But there’s only one, in Texas Woman’s University’s class of 2024, who made history.

During TWU's spring commencement, Chancellor Dr. Carine Feyten recognized Hana Taylor Schlitz for walking the stage at just 16.

“This makes her what we believe to be the youngest person to earn a degree from Texas Woman’s University,” Feyten said to the applauding crowd.

It’s a story Hana sat down to share with NBC 5 in her favorite restaurant, Addison’s Queen of Sheba.

“I will say Ethiopian food is my favorite. I think I’m biased,” she said.

Hana explained her story began on the other side of the world.

“I was 10 months old when my parents first got me. I was born in a small village in Ethiopia, and then I was moved to an orphanage in Arba Minch,” said Taylor Schlitz.

Myiesha Taylor and William Schlitz said they still vividly remember the moment they first laid eyes on Hana.

“Just watching the family come together and embrace Hana, at that moment, she was our’s, and she was part of the family, and she was going to run the world with us wherever we went,” said William Schlitz.

But within hours, the couple learned their new daughter was fighting for her life.

“I will never forget this, Myiesha was like, ‘I don't think we're gonna make it.’ I'm like, what do you mean you don't think we're gonna make it? Like, make what? She's like, ‘I'm not sure we can get her home in time to get her the care she needs.’”

“Her belly was so distended, you know. You could feel her tailbone. She was 10 pounds, and she had big varicella scabs all over her body, like huge. I hadn’t seen it before,” said Myiesha Taylor.

Taylor, a physician, worked alongside Schlitz’s sister, a nurse, to do what they could for Hana before the long flight home.

“I was trying to do all the things, right? And she actually said, ‘Myiesha, we can do the rest tomorrow.’ But I was so focused, like, I don't think that we can do the rest tomorrow. I think we have to give her the Z-pack, and we need to treat this, and this, and all the things, all right now,” she said.

Once they were back in the U.S., doctors diagnosed Hana with tuberculosis, the same disease that killed her birth mother.

Under Taylor’s care and America’s health system, Hana got the care needed to survive and thrive.

Like her older siblings, who were both in grad school by 16, Hana would go on to follow an accelerated path, finishing high school at 11.

She got her associate’s and now a bachelor’s degree before getting a driver’s license.

This fall, Hana will return to TWU to pursue a Ph.D in sociology to advocate for getting medical treatment for common diseases in countries like Ethiopia.

“I always would think about my mom. Everything that I'm doing tuberculosis-wise is in honor of her, and I want to make sure that she knows I'm doing right by her,” said Taylor Schlitz.

“I think that's why it's important for her story to be told, you know, for her to own her story. That is our superpower for us to reconcile the reason we're here in our existence and honor the people who came before us,” said Taylor.

Hana said she also hopes to serve as a voice for those who come after her, other children whose potential as future leaders relies on survival.

“To be able to cheer her on across that stage and know what that walk across that stage really means, and the impact of her one little life on the world and what she could do to make a difference is it weighs on me,” said Schlitz. “To see her make it from that starting point to what she's getting ready to do and make history at a university that's been around since 1902. Yes, it is a very full circle moment for me.”

Before Hana, the person to hold the title of TWU’s youngest graduate was her big sister, Haley. She walked the stage just a few months older than Hana is now and went on to become the youngest female African American law school graduate.