Each year since its inception in 1995, Family Scholar House (FSH) has served disadvantaged residential and nonresidential single moms, dads, and their children with a comprehensive, holistic continuum of care that meets them where they are and empowers them toward their educational, career and family goals. All of these individuals and families have experienced poverty, unstable housing, and most often, domestic violence.
Those who come to FSH often rise above the circumstances they’ve been dealt with, and they deserve a great deal of recognition. And one of the most accomplished FSH alumni who most certainly merits that recognition is Aleshia Thompson.
When Aleshia and her young daughter Trinity arrived at Stoddard Johnston Scholar House in January 2012, she was already on her path towards a better life and career. Studying night and day, she graduated with her Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degrees from Jefferson Community & Technical College in 2013.
Aleshia originally wanted to be a nurse, but several of her professors encouraged her to take more challenging courses, and that’s when she fell in love with Anatomy, Biology, and Medicine. “Once I helped deliver a baby with the doctor who delivered Trinity, and I was nearly brought to tears by the magic of that moment,” she says. “It was then that I knew that I wanted to help bring healthy babies into this world and take care of women. My goal, in fact, my mission, then as it remains now, is to give back to women like me who are underserved and need a familiar face that can relate to their concerns and situations.”
While Aleshia and Trinity continued to reside at Stoddard Johnston Scholar House, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Louisville (U of L) in 2016. And to top off that accomplishment, she and her daughter then secured their own living arrangements off-campus thanks to the help of FSH. From that point forward there was no stopping Aleshia! She worked hard personally and professionally to achieve her ultimate goal of becoming a doctor and was able to care for patients from her previous work as an EMT and Dialysis Technician once she enrolled in the U of L’s School of Medicine.
So, this June, in the very unprecedented year of 2020, Aleshia received her Medical Degree (M.D.) from U of L and has secured a residency at Kansas University Medical Center’s OB/GYN department as an Obstetrician and Gynecologist for the next 4 years. She remains active with FSH and wants everyone to know this: “Never give up no matter how hard life may seem. And never be afraid to ask for help. Without the guidance I received from FSH, I don’t know where I would be now, eight years after I first met with them. They truly helped make my dreams come true.”