This incredible 17-Year-Old teenager is on her way to earning her Ph.D.
By Susan Johnes
At just 17-years- old, Thessalonika Azru-Embry is a Ph.D. candidate.
Azru-Embry used to be home-schooled and started her post-secondary education at 11-years-old. She entered her Ph.D. program in aviation psychology just last year and is now a doctoral candidate in business psychology at Capella University.
Without any doubts, this incredible teen has irresistible charm and relatable personality which saw her finishing her bachelor’s degree by age 14 and her master’s degree by 16.
“If an opportunity to go forward arises, I would always take advantage it because it will both help me and other people as a whole, businesses, and society,” said the teenager.
Arzu-Embry is currently writing her dissertation on dreams which according to her can be an exciting way to analyze what they’re experiencing in life.
Additionally, she is also pursuing her various business enterprises which include developing apps for Google and Apple systems and attending speaking engagements.
According to Arzu-Embry, she hopes to use her doctorate to contract with companies in the aviation industry and help them adjust for human factors thus keeping employees from doing un-wanted things while in the air.
Due to Arzu-Embry’s remarkable achievements, she is also a mentor to 11-year-old Dorothy Jean Tillman, who has completed her associate’s degree, through Arzu-Embry’s ‘Jump the Education Barrier’ program.
As observed by Arzu-Embry’s mother, Wonder Embry, the businesses are a family affair which involves all siblings who are also working on their doctorate degrees after getting their bachelor’s and master’s degrees at young ages.
“For one to be successful, it takes a whole team,” Wonder Embry said. “It takes a family, love, commitment, planning, among other lots of things. Thus, when one person succeeds in a family, all succeed in a family.”
Arzu-Embry first gained interest in aviation through her father, Carlos Arzu, an Air Force veteran who still works in the industry. She loved traveling and started flying lessons at a very young age.
At that young age, Arzu-Embry had a chance to sit at an air show when she was about five years old, and an instructor showed her how it worked.
Arzu-Embry started college early and attended courses with her mother, who was pursuing a psychology degree while home-schooling her children.
Arzu-Embry started attending classes at the College of Lake County, where she thought her interests would lie in medicine but she became more interested in how the brain works.
Arzu-Embry has used her extensive experience to encourage other students “to keep going provided they know their academic plan, and to find a support system if they don’t have one.”
