Just get a box of tissues and prepare to be emotionally wrecked this afternoon. Ieshia Champs is a widowed mom from Texas who did not let the odds, which were stacked against her, get her down. This mother of five children went from working a call center with no high school diploma to being in line to graduate Magna Cum Laude from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law next month. Read on to find out how she did it!
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Of course, every child has incredible dreams of being something great in society. Ieshia was certainly no different as she aspired to be a lawyer at the tender age of 7-years-old. Life, however, always has a way of presenting challenges that make us feel like opportunities missed will never return. Such is how Ieshia felt when she became pregnant with her first child during her teen years. It was then that this young mom-to-be made the conscious decision to drop out of high school and take a job at a call center to support her family. Ieshia would not revisit her dreams of becoming a lawyer again until she was pregnant with her fourth child.
In many ways, the year 2009 was a pivotal one for the mother of soon-to-be four kids. Not only did Ieshia and her family lose their home due to a fire, but the mom also lost her children’s father to cancer as well as her job. Just when it seemed that all hope was lost, Ieshia got a call from her pastor.
This week we join thousands around the world in congratulating #IeshiaChamps who graduated with honors from Texas Southern University’s Law school, all while raising 5 kids. https://t.co/3bdJs4PegY pic.twitter.com/YgrFjH8tfd
— WAFB (@WAFB) April 13, 2018
“Pastor Louise Holman called me one day and said that God told her to tell me to go back to school and get my GED, because that lawyer I wanted to be, I’ll be it,” the single mom tells media. “I thought it was a little crazy because I was too old and I had three children with my fourth child on the way,” Ieshia admitted. Nevertheless, she put her faith into action.
Ieshia enrolled in an adult school where she finished necessary coursework to obtain her GED. She then attended Houston Community College before transferring to the University of Houston-Downtown for undergraduate studies. Ieshia completed her coursework to obtain her Juris Doctorate degree at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Her story is definitely one of inspiration.
