EVANSVILLE, Ind. – An Indiana eighth grader recently schooled her health teacher with a brilliant answer to class assignment centered on her body mass index that is going viral online.

Evansville 14-year-old Tessa Embry was required to be weighed in front of her peers and forced to calculate her BMI as part of her health class. The muscular student athlete came home embarrassed and ashamed from the incident when she was labeled obese, prompting her to discuss her health in more detail with her doctor and to share her thoughts about imperfect body measurement in a follow up assignment, UpWorthy.com reports.

MORE NEWS: From Classroom to Consulate Chef: Culinary Student Lands Dream Job at U.S. Embassy in Paris

The assignment tasked Embry with answering “What is BMI?” and required the teen to calculate her own BMI. The girl’s answer – which was posted by her mother to Facebook and reposted by family friends – is gaining applause from across the internet.

Embry wrote:

BMI is an outdated way of defining normal weight, under weight, over weight, and obesity by taking one person’s height divided by their weight.

One of the formula’s obvious flaws, explains Alan Aragon, the Men’s Health Weight Loss Coach and nutritionist in California, is that it has absolutely no way of discriminating fat and muscle.

So, let’s say there is a fairly athletic woman who maintains a decent diet, she’s five feet, six inches, and she weighs 190 pounds, but 80 per cent of her body is muscle.

That doesn’t matter when calculating BMI! This woman’s BMI would be 30.7, and she would be labeled obese. Does that make sense to you? Because it sure doesn’t make sense to me.

How could someone who stays fit, eats healthy, and has a low metabolism be in danger of heart disease and diabetes? 

Oh, that’s right, because she isn’t in danger of obesity and heart disease. This woman is active and healthy and she is the furthest thing from obese.

In conclusion, BMI is an outdated way of determining a person’s body health, and it’s a measurement that should not be used in a school setting where students are already self-conscious and lacking confidence in their unique bodies.

Embry then refused to calculate her own BMI and explained why.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a ‘bigger girl’ and I’m completely fine with that; I’m strong and powerful.

When you put a softball or a bat in my hand, they are considered lethal weapons.

But, at the beginning of the year, I started having very bad thoughts when my body was brought into a conversation.

I would wear four bras to try and cover up my back fat, and I would try to wrap ace bandages around my stomach so I would look skinnier.

So my lovely mother did what any parent would do when they noticed something wrong with her child, she took me to my doctor.

My doctor and I talked about my diet and how active I am.

He did a couple tests and told me I was fine. He said though I’m a bit overweight, he’s not going to worry about me based on how healthy I am.

So this is where I don’t calculate my BMI because my doctor, a man who went to college for eight years studying children’s health, told me my height and weight are right on track.

I am just beginning to love my body, like I should, and I’m not going to let some outdated calculator and a middle school gym teacher tell me I’m obese, because I’m not.

My BMI is none of your concern because my body and BMI are perfect and beautiful just the way they are.

Embry’s mother, Mindi Embry, told Today her daughter was more than willing to take a failing grade on the assignment to make her point, and she was in full support.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

“She said, ‘I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to put up with this,’ and she asked me, ‘Mom, is it OK if I get an ‘F’ on this assignment?’ And I said absolutely,” Mindi Embry said.

“The doctor told her, ‘You have a good diet, you’re very active, you’re very strong. You’re good to go. I give you a clean bill of health.’ And that empowered her,” she said. “I think she thought, ‘I’ve got my doctor behind me. I’ve got my parents behind me, that (BMI) really doesn’t matter.’”

Mindi Embry told Today she was shocked her daughter’s school assignment is now drawing worldwide attention. She posted it to her Facebook page and friends reposted in support, she said, and it ballooned from there.

“I had no idea it would get this big,” she said. “I just posted it to my personal Facebook page because I’m really proud of her.”

Tessa Embry said she’s made her point and moved on.

“People are always going to see flaws in themselves obviously, but I’m comfortable with my body, and I’ve kind of let the whole gym teacher-labeling-me-as-obese thing go in one ear and out the other,” she told Today.

“We’re really proud of her for standing up for what she believes in,” Mindi Embry told ABC News. “She has got a special gift. She’s strong. She’s powerful. She has a healthy diet and she is active.”