Karis Dryer walked across the stage at Liberty University on May 14, 2026, at 15 years old, becoming the youngest bachelor’s degree graduate in the Class of 2026. She earned a Bachelor of Education in Elementary Education after years of studying ahead of schedule and balancing school with church and sports.
The graduation gives the Winter Haven, Fla., teen a degree she says changed how she thinks about teaching. Dryer said Liberty helped her see education from more than one angle and gave her a clearer sense of how to act in different classroom settings. She also said the university worked with her and encouraged her to keep going, turning what could have been an unusual path into a steady one.
The milestone lands in the middle of Liberty’s 53rd Commencement, where family members planned to travel to Lynchburg to celebrate both sisters. Karis and her older sister, Alethia, passed a college entrance exam at ages 10 and 12, then enrolled at their local community college for associate’s degrees before transferring to Liberty University Online Programs. Alethia Dryer finished with a Bachelor of Science in Digital Design: Photographic Design, making the siblings’ back-to-back graduations part of a family story that has circled the university for years.
That connection runs deeper than the two sisters. Their mother, Darlene Dryer, earned a Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Counseling through Liberty, and she said it felt meaningful to return as an alumna after thinking about her grandfather, Robert Stewart, who attended Liberty in 1986 through the Liberty Home Bible Institute. She called it a family hobby in the sense that the university has become a shared thread across generations. She also said it was special to be able to say she and her two daughters are Liberty graduates.
Karis’ own route to graduation was shaped by more than coursework. She played on swim, soccer, volleyball and basketball teams while earning her degree, and she sang in her church’s youth band and adult choir. Last summer she began taking classes with Liberty, and after returning from a missions trip to Honduras she felt a calling toward full-time missions. That sense of direction now meets a practical next step: this summer she will teach Sunday School at her church’s Spanish sister church, while she hopes to pursue a master’s degree in global and intercultural leadership at Liberty.
For Liberty, the graduation is another marker of a commencement season built on family ties, online study and students arriving early to college and finishing young. For Dryer, it is simpler than that. The degree is finished, the next class is already in view, and the teen who finished college at 15 is moving into teaching with a plan that is already taking shape.
