17-Year-Old Moriah Graham Just Made History as the Youngest Black Female Pilot In The World

It happened last year, but didn’t make the news like it should have.

It’s the story of a young Black lady accomplishing something that is historical.Congrats to 17-year-old MoriahGraham, the youngest Black female to earn a pilot’s license in Delaware.The high school student said it was “pretty cool” when she found out that she had made history.“Finding out I was the first in Delaware was pretty cool,” she told the Dover Post. “It put a little bit of pressure on me, but I don’t fly to impress other people and I didn’t fly to make this historic accomplishment. I fly because I love flying and I have a passion for it.”

Originally, the teen says, she had ambitions to become an astronaut.

“When I was little I was really fascinated with space and things like that,” she said. “They picked the best pilots to start astronaut training so I figured if I got a head start on being a pilot I’d be one step closer to maybe even becoming an astronaut.”

Graham is a cadet with the Air Force as a JROTC. She started training to fly as a junior in high school. It reportedly took her 14 months to earn her pilot’s license.

Raymond Ott, an aero science teacher who has been mentoring Graham, says she is an example of what can be done when a person works hard and dreams big.

“It says that she’s immensely focused, she’s able to stay on task, obviously goal oriented and mature beyond her years,” Ott said. “I think that she was able to dream big but she was also able to achieve big.”