Elin wanted to be like Mike, and now she's a 14-year-old high school graduate

JACKSONVILLE – Elin Facey graduated from high school in May as an honor student with nearly 100 scholarship offers from colleges and universities from Florida to Alaska.

And if that’s not impressive enough, there’s this:

She’s 14.

There was an audible gasp from those who attended The Potter’s House Christian Academy graduation when that last fact was announced.

And there were visible tears from Elin.

“Because I was so proud, I did all of this work, and I came a long way,” she said.

Elin will attend Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, on a partial scholarship, starting with online classes until she turns 16. She’ll major in criminal justice and plans to earn a law degree. Her long-term goal is to be the mayor of Jacksonville, her hometown.

It might be hard to believe, given her quick trek through her high school years and grand plans, but there was a time when Elin was a student content just to get by. But that was before she took online classes at Florida Virtual School (FLVS) and before her lone year at Potter’s House, a PreK-12 private school in Jacksonville, which she attended with the help of a Florida education choice scholarship managed by Step Up For Students.

And that was before her mom, Deidra, threw down a challenge that Elin not only accepted but crushed.

It was the summer before seventh grade, and Elin was about to turn 12. She was struggling with math and science. So, Deidra withdrew Elin from her district school and enrolled her in two FLVS summer courses.

“She didn't want to do it at first,” Deidra said. “But I felt that as a parent, in the summer, kids can get into a lot of things like TikTok, Facebook. I had to do something to motivate her. I had to find a way to motivate her.”

Thus, the challenge.

Leaning on their shared interest in sports, Deidra asked, “Do you want to be Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan in the clutch?”

Bryant won five National Basketball Association (NBA) championships. Jordan won six.

Did Elin want to be great? Or greater?

“I said, ‘I need you to get these grades up and show me you want to do this over the summer. I need you to elevate,’” Deidra said. “She looked at me with the meanest look.”

Deidre considers Jordan to be the greatest basketball player of all time, but she was OK with Elin saying she wanted to be Kobe. After all, who’s going to argue against five championship rings?

Elin passed those two summer courses with C’s.

Then she told her mom she wanted to be Jordan.

“I said, ‘It's time for you to kill it. It's six championship rings on the line,’” Deidra said.

Elin began taking and passing FLVS courses at an accelerated pace.

According to Deidra, Elin passed a half a semester worth of classes during the first two months of the ensuing school year and two grades worth of classes by the end of spring. She took and passed enough courses to jump three more grades the following year.

“She’s so motivated and driven to move forward,” said Lela Johnson, Potter’s House principal. “She doesn’t ever want to stop.”

Meanwhile, Deidre had Elin read books and stories about successful people. Athletes. Politicians. Humanitarians. Biblical characters. One story was about basketball player Robert Horry, who won seven NBA titles with three different teams

“I want my kids to go far,” said Deidra, a single mother of three who works in guest relations at the Omni Amelia Island Resort & Spa.

“I’m a driven mother. Education is big in my household.”

“Trust me,” Elin said, “her methods are good.”

At this point, Elin had her mind set on graduating from high school early. Real early. She recalled days in middle school when classmates teased her about her grades.

“They underestimated me,” Elin said. “That motivated me. I said, ‘I’m going to graduate high school at 13.’ I said 13. It’s 14. It’s fine.”

Now, her friends call her “Einstein” or “Young Sheldon.”

Albert Einstein is the physicist who developed the theory of relativity. “Young Sheldon” is a TV sitcom about Sheldon Cooper, the boy genius who graduated high school at 11. Elin said she can identify with Sheldon.

“We share the same interests, we research the same things,” Elin said, “and sometimes I pretty much act like him.”

Deidra wanted Elin to attend a private school in her senior year. She wanted her to reacclimate to the classroom setting. So, she turned to a Florida educational scholarship to help with tuition.

“It's a good scholarship. It’s been in our family for a long time,” Deidra said, noting that she has a number of nieces and nephews and even a great niece who graduated high school with the help of a scholarship managed by Step Up.

Most schools near their Jacksonville home, though, wanted Elin to come in as a junior.

Potter’s House Principal Johnson didn’t think that was necessary. Since Elin was two credits shy of graduating, she would be repeating classes she already passed.

“Why hold her back?” Johnson said.

There was an initial adjustment when school began last fall. Elin was 14 in a classroom filled with 17- and 18-year-olds.

“Sometimes that would be challenging for her, because she would say things that a 14-year-old would say,” Johnson said. “But other times she would just baffle the students with her intelligence.”

Johnson, who also teaches English, recalled a time when Elin was reading a passage from a story. The text switched to German. At the bottom of the page, there was a footnote that included the English translation. Johnson was about to tell Elin to skip to the English text when Elin continued reading in German.

German was one of the languages Elin studied at FLVS.

“She’s very sharp, very energetic,” Johnson said. “She brought a new energy to the class.”

Deidra used the college-planning websites Niche and appily to match Elin’s transcript with colleges and universities. Elin applied to several schools on her own, while others reached out to her.

The first letter of acceptance was from Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It arrived on Nov. 14, 2025.

Then came similar letters from Manhattan University, the University of New England in Maine, and the University of Alaska in Anchorage.

They came nearly every day.

Howard Payne University in Texas. Payne University in Georgia.

The University of Chicago. Southern New Hampshire University. University of New Hampshire.

Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee. Harding University in Arkansas.

The University of South Carolina. South Carolina State University.

The University of Miami. Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

“One day I sat down and tried to write them all down, and I got tired,” Deidra said.

All the letters are stored in a box. A large box.

“The other day I was going through them, and I was like, ‘Wow,’” Elin said.

Mother and daughter sifted through all the offers and decided Faulkner University was the best fit for Elin.

Elin also accepted a scholarship to the College of Biblical Studies in Houston. She will take online classes there simultaneously with her online classes for Faulkner University.

“This is a big achievement for me,” Elin said. “I’m very proud, and my mom has been there for all the steps.”

So has her grandmother, Lillie Lee.

“She is very involved,” Deidra said of her mother. “My right-hand person. When it comes down to education, she’s always there. She gives her input, and it counts. It counts a lot.”

Tabrielle, Deidra’s first-born child and Elin’s older sister, has been a big influence on Elin. Tabrielle recently graduated from Lake-Sumter State College with a psychology degree.

“You know how they say, ‘It takes a village to raise a child?’ It does,” Elin said. “Everyone had input in this.”

Roger Mooney, manager, communications, can be reached at [email protected].