How does the youngest Nobel Prize laureate celebrate her graduation? Just like everybody else. 

Malala Yousafzai – activist for female education, founder of the non-profit Malala Fund, the United Nations’ youngest-ever Messenger of Peace and former Stylist cover star – has just completed her Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at the University of Oxford. The milestone moment comes eight years after being shot by the Taliban for speaking out about girls’ education in Pakistan. 

Yousafzai shared the news on Twitter on Friday 19 June, along with photos of how she celebrated. In one picture, she is covered in confetti and food (known as ‘trashing’ and traditionally done after Oxford students complete their exams). In the other, she’s cutting into a cake while surrounded by her proud family.      

She captioned it: “Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford. I don’t know what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep.”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was just one of thousands to congratulate the new graduate, tweeting: “Congratulations Malala. You continue to inspire and empower the next generation of young women and girls to know that there is no limits to their aspirations.”

When Yousafzai first started her course at Oxford, she talked about the significance of it.

“Five years ago, I was shot in an attempt to stop me from speaking out for girls’ education,” she wrote, alongside a picture of her textbooks and laptop. “Today, I attend my first lectures at Oxford.”

While the fresh graduate of course deserves some serious downtime with Netflix, we’re absolutely confident that she’ll be back to doing what she does best very soon.

Congratulations, Malala!

Image: Tom Van Schelven