A brilliant young girl named Saniya Lyles has graduated from Middle College, Greensboro with a 4.50 GPA, earned scholarships totaling $500,000 from 17 universities in the United States, and dedicated her success to her late mother.

Saniya Lyles is a teen from North Carolina who tragically lost her mother months before entering her final year of high school. Determined to honor her mother’s memory, she made a personal commitment to make her mother proud by excelling in her final grades.

After her mother died, Saniya said she focused more on her academics, maintaining a 4.5 GPA while also completing her fifth college-credit course,” WFMY reported.

“If anything, you know, I just use it as encouragement. Everything I did before, I told myself I must do 10 times more, to make her proud,” she said.

Saniya was accepted into 17 colleges and received more than $500,000 worth of scholarships. ”I’m super excited. I’m a tiny bit nervous, now that, I guess, I’m preparing for college and that my experience at high school is wrapping up,” she said.

She expressed how proud she is to have achieved the success wishing her mother was alive to witness her achievements.”It was just one of those things, I was happy, but still, in the back of my mind, I’m like, ‘Wow, I wish she could be here to see me do this and see me doing good,” she said.

Though she had many schools to choose from, Sania chose to attend Fayetteville State University adding that she has plans to work as a detective and military officer.

“I plan on doing crime scene investigation after I get my degree, And I do have aspirations of eventually joining the military, as well,” Saniya said. “My goal in life is just to make an impact, even after I pass, I just want to leave the world better than when I came in,” she added.

Saniya said she hopes others can learn from her story and will be inspired to push forward, even in times of tragedy.