I’yanna Jones is a three-time state medalist in wrestling, capping her high school career this year as the runner-up in the 135-pound weight class. She’s also a cross country runner, cadet colonel in the Air Force Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, honor student who is second in her class with a 4.931 weighted GPA, persistent and resilient.

When her mother died unexpectedly two years ago, she said she wanted to work harder to reach the goals she had planned to achieve with her mom at her side. When her dream school, the U.S. Air Force Academy, denied her because she has asthma and exercise-induced bronchospasm, she applied to Harvard University next—and got in.

She’ll attend in the fall, where she will study government before applying to law school. She aims to be a judge.

“I know that I have really high goals, and those goals require hard work,” she said.

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