Fifteen-year-old Danya Hamad aims to be Doogie Howser JD.

The Canal Winchester teenager will graduate with her associate degree from Columbus State Community College on Friday. On May 23, she will graduate from Reynoldsburg High School. Technically, she will be a college graduate before she officially leaves high school.

"It's very surreal that it's that close," she said.

In the fall, Hamad will start college at Capital University at age 16, with enough college credits to be considered a junior. Because of an accelerated law program, she will start law school there a year later. In three years, she could be done.

Other child-prodigy lawyers include Stephen A. Baccus, who graduated from the University of Miami law school in 1986 at age 16; Kiwi Camara of Hawaii, who graduated from Harvard Law School at age 19 in 2004; and Gabrielle Turnquest of Florida, who passed the British bar exam at age 18 in 2013.

Making this happen took meticulous planning and tenacity. Through open enrollment, Hamad's parents helped her get into Reynoldsburg's BELL Early College Academy (for Business, Education, Law and Leadership), which is next door to a Columbus State satellite campus and offers dual credits for high school and college and also internship opportunities.

"I think it's incredible," BELL Principal Kimberly Cox said. "She's proven it can be done with dedication and with support. I'm hoping we have a ninth-grader who wants to beat her (record)."

Parents Lotfi and Gadah Hamad also paid for college credits above and beyond what the state's College Credit Plus dual-enrollment program would pay for.

The teen takes college classes in the summers and on weekends, so Mrs. Hamad drives her wherever they are held: Downtown, Westerville, Reynoldsburg. It's a lot of time in the car, her mother said.

Her daughter stayed on top of things, Mrs. Hamad said, going to her guidance counselor each month to check that no contingencies would derail her.

"She's the type that if she puts her mind to something, it happens," she said. "She's very stubborn."

Hamad's interest lies in human-rights law. Her father, a Palestinian, is a native of Jerusalem, and her mother finished high school there, having been born in Chicago and attending Reynoldsburg schools through the ninth grade. The teen said she has paid attention to the news of the Middle East since she was small because she has relatives living there and has gone to visit.

"I decided that I not only wanted to help the Palestinian people but people all over the world," Hamad said.

As translated by his wife, Mr. Hamad praised his daughter. "I'm proud of everyone who pursues knowledge. ... Education is the foundation of the future, and these kids are the future."

Hamad was accepted into Capital University on a full scholarship for next year, in the 3+3 Bachelor of Arts/Juris Doctor Program the school just launched. It combines the senior year of college with the first year of law school. She's considering majoring in political science, communications or even business, all of which could help in her career, she said.

She even has legal experience through an internship at Schiff & Associates, a Downtown law firm that focuses on workers' compensation and personal injury cases.

"The treat me as an equal there, which I really value," Hamad said. She and a few other BELL students work there, filing motions and talking to clients.

She and her mother were concerned that people would assume the girl never has any fun, and they insist that is not the case. Hamad loves to act, sing in choir and hang out with friends, and she competes in a mock legislative group called Youth in Government.

"She's the real comedian in the family," Mrs. Hamad said.

But her daughter definitely is driven by a competitive streak. "(Her brother) David is going to beat her, which is really upsetting her," her mother said with a sly smile.

"It's like Miss America! You keep your title for a year and then you hand it over," Hamad protested.

David, a ninth-grader, expects to be 15 1/2 — a few months younger than his sister is now — when he graduates from Reynoldsburg's Health Sciences & Human Services STEM Academy.

He plans to be a doctor.

sgilchrist@dispatch.com

@shangilchrist