Iesha’s Story

Iesha Young wants to be a biomedical engineer. That’s impressive enough by itself, but even more so when you learn about the obstacles she has had to overcome.

Growing up, things were rough at home. Iesha saw how hard her mother had to work to support the household of six, which included her mom, dad, grandma, and two brothers. To help, Iesha has had two jobs while in high school.

But when you meet Iesha, you don’t see any of the hardship she has endured. What you see is a confident young woman with a cheerful attitude and ambition. You see someone who has taken advantage of every opportunity available to her to get what she wants out of life.

“I love to hear… you cannot have too much knowledge.” Iesha says she doesn’t care about being call a brainiac or a know-it-all. “I feel like the more you know, the better you will be.”

Iesha has been in the JAG program at Snider High School for two years, but she admits that when she first signed up, she thought it was a “blow-off class”. As time went on, she began to see it as so much more.

In her JAG class, Iesha was pleased to see other students who looked like her. In her other classes, she was often the only black person. Her fellow JAG students became like family to her. “To hear their stories and their backgrounds and what they’re striving towards and where they come from, it really just made me think – I’m not alone.”

Iesha has been flourishing in high school. She was selected as the “2018 JAG Outstanding Senior” for Indiana region 3 and competed at the state level where she came in second. Iesha will be attending IU Bloomington in the fall of 2018 on a full-ride scholarship as part of the IU Groups program. She will be the first in her family to attend college.

“JAG really just helped me narrow down my career path… and it helped me to shape where I want to go… it teaches you things that you need for the workforce and just for life in general.”