Brittney Exline

It is no wonder that Brittney Exline is such a wunderkind. She was born on Valentine’s Day; two weeks after her mother Chyrese’s due date. Dad Christopher and Chyrese always knew that their little moppet was special. At just 6 months old Brittney was already making pyramid designs with blocks and was walking just two months later. By 15 months old she was already finishing 75-100 piece puzzles without assistance. At the age of 15 in 2007 Brittney Exline became the youngest African-American female to be accepted into an Ivy League school at the University of Pennsylvania. It looks like Brittney is back in the news as the Colorado Springs, Colorado native has made history again by graduating cum laude earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science. At 19-years old, Brittney has become UPenn’s youngest ever engineer and that nation’s youngest African-American engineer. Exline has already secured employment with a software company outside of Boston. Brittney is not your average college co-ed and at the prospect of already leaving college, she says “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Being 19 doesn’t bother me. It’s just being fresh out of college and having a new transition.”

Brittney was a graduate of Palmer High School’s International Baccalaureate program where she studied anthropology at Harvard University. While still in secondary school she later received a full scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. Exline speaks seven languages including English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Russian, Arabic and German. Unbelievably she doubled her loads to graduate in four years with minors in math, psychology and classical studies. Both of her parent’s involvement in Brittney and her brother’s childhoods were instrumental in advocating that their children succeed. They taught them the hard lessons of not quitting on something just because it’s hard. Chyrese says “I’m very involved in the school district. Sometimes you need to stick with something. That’s the only way to learn how to persevere and overcome true obstacles. Eventually, it becomes a part of you. I believe this.”

Growing up Brittney was also a very talented dancer that held many pageant titles including the 2004 Miss Colorado Pre-Teen and 2006 Miss Colorado Jr. National Teenager. At the very young age of 16, Brittney secured an internship as an investment analyst on the New York Stock Exchange with Sophrosyne Capital Hedge Funds. Just a year later at barely 17 Brittney was the youngest IT leader to travel to Cameroon with associate Penn students for the nonprofit organization “One Laptop Per Child.” The program was designed to provide inexpensive laptops into the hands of children in developing countries.

Volunteering is a huge part of Brittney’s life and she believes that a great deal of life involves giving back. Exline was passionate while at college about working with Community School Student Partnerships in Philadelphia located nearby UPENN. Before long the teenager became a member of the senior staff and a site coordinator for West Philadelphia High School where she trained and mentored 30 tutors from UPENN. Her exhaustive interest in education has her thinking about returning back to school one day to earn her Doctorate but in what field she just does not know yet. Exline’s biggest challenge for right now is a basic teenage task that she has gone out of her way to avoid thus far: driving!