It may have been nearly nine years since Here Comes Honey Boo Boo aired its final episode back in August 2014, but the show’s titular star—real name Alana Thompson—is down to return to the world of reality TV as she makes her way to Regis University this fall. Thompson graduated from high school earlier this year, with her sights set on the college located in Denver, Colorado, where she will be studying neonatal nursing. She revealed to Entertainment Tonight that she was accepted into the university with a $21,000 scholarship.
Thompson’s plans to become a neonatal nurse are nothing new, having previously opened up about her goals to Teen Vogue back in 2021. Now, she is set to begin the process of making that dream a reality, as she will be attending what her sister and legal guardian Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon has called “a Top 3 nursing program in the world.” No stranger to documenting her life on television, having initially found fame on TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras, Thompson has now expressed interest in sharing this latest chapter in a new show focusing on her college experience. “I mean, I’ve been on TV my whole life and I’ve kind of just basically accepted that whether I wanna go be a nurse or I wanna go be an accountant, whatever I wanna go be, that I will always be in the spotlight,” she shared. “It doesn’t matter what I do, I will always probably be known as, ‘Oh my god, Honey Boo Boo [was] working on my baby when he was in the NICU!’”
Pumpkin added “I feel like a lot of people have seen Alana grow up. So for us, letting everybody in the world be a part of Alana’s graduation was a very big deal to us,” with Alana sharing that “a lot of people wanted to see” her graduate. On her high school successes, Alana revealed that “I didn’t graduate with honors, but I did graduate with a 3.0 [grade point average],” but had received “three cords” from various school programs including a nursing group. She also donned cords representing her favorite color, and in honor of her sister Anna Cardwell. Cardwell is currently undergoing treatment for Stage 4 adrenal carcinoma, a rare form of cancer which is affecting her lung, kidney, and liver.
Alana Is Focused on her Future
Should TV cameras ultimately follow Alana to Regis, don’t expect to see the star join a sorority any time soon. She said “I don’t want to be part of a sorority because, me personally—and I don’t need nobody hounding me when I say this – but me personally, I feel like all sorority girls are stuck up. I’m just gonna say that. I feel like they’re stuck up and it’s just not for me. I’m sorry. I’m not the bougie, like, ‘I got my Chanel bag’, like, I’m not that kind of girl.” With her future firmly in mind, Alana’s focus is on academic success, saying “I’m there to do my studies and graduate in 2029 and go on.”
You can check out Alana’s interview with Entertainment Tonight below:
