HCC alum and mother of five turns her dream into reality
Apr 27, 2018
Former Houston Community College student Iesha Champs always dreams big, but it has been an uphill climb every step of the way.
Despite the obstacles, the mother of five, who started her college education at HCC, worked hard, persevered and held her head high when the going got tough, and her efforts are now paying big dividends. Today, she is preparing for final exams and graduation from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
To celebrate the milestone, Champs arranged a photo shoot with her kids and the photos have gone viral, with news outlets publishing her story around the world.
In one of the photos, she is holding a chalkboard with the words, “I did it!” written on it. Her children stand behind her holding chalkboards saying: “We did it!” “I helped too!” “Me too!”
“I took the pictures with my kids because they helped me through school,” said Champs. “They’re graduating too. They would help me review with flash cards while I cooked. They would sit as a mock jury while I taught them what I learned that day.”
Champs, 33, said she dreamed of being a lawyer since she was seven, but her home life was unstable.
“I really didn’t have any stable guidance at that time,” she told CBS News. “My mom was addicted to drugs. My dad was deceased. And I was homeless. I lived with friends or whoever would take me in. Then I got pregnant with the first of my five children, and things just went from there.”
At the urging of her mentors, Champs obtained her GED in 2009 and went on to earn an associate’s degree in paralegal studies from HCC.
Her dedication and work ethic made an impression on Ronald Esposito, her instructor at HCC.
“Ms. Champs was a great student,” said Esposito, lead instructor of the Paralegal Technology Program at HCC Central. “She told me that she could ‘get it done’ and that ‘anything worth getting was worth working hard to obtain.’ I am proud of her and her accomplishments and want to see her in court.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree at the University of Houston, Champs was admitted into the TSU Law School where she has completed her studies. She credits her children – especially her oldest son – for helping her get to graduation day.
“I would sit in my closet and pray and cry because I was overwhelmed and my oldest son, David, would gather his siblings, give them a snack, make them take a bath, gather their school clothes, all to make things easier for me. And I had no knowledge of him doing that until I went to do it,” she told CBS News.
Champs will graduate magna cum laude from TSU on May 11 and plans to take the bar exam in July. She hopes to eventually become a federal judge.