Eugenie de Silva, 14, to begin master’s degree at Harvard

An East Tennessee teen is getting ready to go back to school.

Instead of prepping for the start of high school, however, 14-year-old Eugenie de Silva is set to begin master's level coursework at Harvard University.

The gifted student graduated from high school in 2010. This summer, she graduated from American Military University with her bachelor's in Intelligence Analysis and promptly started a graduate research class to prep herself for Harvard's course load.

"All the while, I had the ambition to attend Harvard University. My major career goals are to work in the U.S. government, and also to open my own law firm. Of course, Harvard is well-known for its law school, and I was always focused on having the opportunity to attend such a prestigious university," she told Sri Lanka's The Sunday Times.

"It was always my dream to go to Harvard. When I walked on campus, it was magnificent for me," she told UPI.

De Silva's father, Eugene de Silva, a physics and chemistry professor at Walters State Community College and Virginia Institute of Research founder, shared with the Huffington Post this week the news that his daughter had officially been accepted into Harvard's Master of Liberal Arts program.

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De Silva plans to get her master's in legal studies. Eventually, she hopes to have two master's degrees, a doctorate and a law degree. The ambitious teen is setting her sights on becoming a U.S. government intelligence agent.

"It is my ultimate goal to become the U.S. Defense Secretary," she told the Middlesboro Daily News.

Her father, a single parent who moved with his daughter from the U.K. to the U.S. in 2004, says that his daughter could type before she could write.

"I recognized her talent at an early age and began teaching her subjects," he told UPI.

De Silva credits her father with cultivating a home environment that made learning exciting.

"From a young age, my father has always promoted education and I have grown up in a household conducive to learning. When I first attended primary school at the age of three, I won the headmaster’s award each year," she told the The Sunday Times.

"My dad has always taught me through research. His novel teaching techniques have continuously given me the opportunities to learn the real-world connections of subject materials," she added.

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De Silva hopes her incredible education journey inspires others.

The teenager, who has already published two children's books and has co-authored a book on research, is planning to publish a novel within the next five years "to inspire the youth of today to focus on their education."