Sometimes we find inspiration from people we’ve never even met.
Consider Russellville resident Kisha Ponce.
The 33-year-old Ponce is a wife to Canoeli Luna-Ponce and the mother of four children, the oldest of whom, Selena, graduated from Tharptown High School in May.
Her other three children are enrolled at the Alabama Connections Academy, with their mother at home supervising and supporting their online home schooling.
Ponce most recently worked at Kontoor in Hackleburg until she began full-time college coursework.
And, oh by the way, Ponce is in her second year as a full-time student at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. Selena is also attending SNHU, in her first year of a two-year program to earn an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts before she embarks on a career in the military.
SNHU recently announced its Summer 2023 President’s List, and Ponce’s name was included.
To make the President’s List, a student must be a full-time undergraduate who earns a minimum grade-point average of 3.700 for the term.
Full-time status is achieved by the student earning 12 credits over each 16-week term or paired eight-week terms grouped in the fall, winter/spring and summer.
Southern New Hampshire is a private, non-profit university with more than 170,000 students worldwide. SNHU offers approximately 200 accredited undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs available online and on its 300-acre campus in Manchester, N.H.
The university was one of the first to offer and promote online learning at the collegiate level.
Ponce takes a full course load each term that SNHU offers, with only a break around Christmas.
Ponce plans to attend law school after graduation, and she hopes to attend the University of Alabama School of Law. From there, she’ll do what she does every day with her own family, help and protect others.
“I want to become an attorney and I also have an interest in learning about politics,” Ponce said. “The whole point of being an attorney is to protect other people’s constitutional rights, so law and politics go hand-in-hand.”
Ambitious, indeed. And when you consider the path Ponce took to become a college honor student, it’s nothing short of remarkable. That’s where the inspirational part of the story begins.
Growing up in rural Jackson County, Al., Ponce was only 13 when she learned she was pregnant. As a freshman at Woodville High School, her life took a dramatic change from that point.
She never returned to Woodville High School. Instead, she studied for her GED and earned it the same semester her high school senior class graduated. By that time, Ponce was living in Russellville and was and taking care of her young daughter.
Ponce attended Virginia College and earned an Associate's Degree in Applied Science. At the time, she wanted to be a physician, with a concentration in OB/GYN.
“I worked in the medical field and had a taste of it and that taste was enough, so I decided to pursue something better for me,” Ponce said.
Full-time tuition, even for online learning, is steep these days, and that's part of the reason Ponce plans to go back to work. But she sees it as an investment for her Selena. An investment that will one day pay off.
“Education comes with a cost. You don't get it free. In the long run, when I look at what I want to be, it will be worth the cost of what I paid to be a student,” Ponce said.
Ponce hopes to graduate from SNHU at the same time Selena does.
“It would be really cool to walk across the stage with my daughter. When I was pregnant at 13, I never thought about one day going to college with her,” Ponce said. “She asked me why I wanted to go to college. I explained I was a young mom and thought that opportunity was completely shut off at one time.
“But I wanted to pursue higher education, so it was worth going for it. Now it's special to go through it with her. Don't ever think you can't go back because you can,” Ponce added.
It really doesn't get more inspirational than that.
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