Ever since she can remember, Lakeysha Jackson has loved school, and her enduring passion for learning has carried her through good times and bad. Jackson’s parents battled with numerous struggles when she was growing up, and eventually she her siblings were split up in foster care. That rocky start was the root of plenty of challenges, but she has come back to education as a source of strength and resilience again and again.
Jackson welcomed her first child in 2007. “Ever since then, I’ve been a mother going back to school,” she laughs. She started with an associate degree in medical billing, followed by a diploma in medical assistance, and then began working as a nursing assistant. A single mom, Jackson often had to put her education on the back burner to pick up more shifts to make ends meet, especially after the birth of her second child. Through it all, she kept the drumbeat of college credits rolling, making slow but steady progress toward her goal of becoming a nurse.
Jackson met and married her husband when her younger son was 5. She balanced family responsibilities with daytime classes and 12-hour hospital night shifts in intensive critical care, medical surgery, mental health and even on the front lines of COVID-19. “It was a lot, but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything,” she reflects. But when her marriage turned abusive, Jackson was forced to flee with her children to a domestic violence shelter. From the shelter, she began the work of reclaiming her sense of liberation and empowerment — and her dream of graduating from a four-year university. During that challenging time she completed four more degrees — AA’s in pre-allied health, social science and behavior, natural science and mathematics, and arts and humanities — and decided it was time to apply to UC.
“When I learned that UC Santa Barbara picked me, my heart leaped,” Jackson recalls. Still, she was worried that she couldn’t afford UC. Being in community college for so many years, she had run through her federal Pell grant. But a cousin who attended UCLA encouraged her, “UC has so many opportunities, so many resources and scholarships — you’ll be OK.” With that reassurance, Jackson applied for assistance and found herself surrounded by support. On top of UC financial aid, she got help from Guardian Scholars, a program for former foster youth, and additional assistance for student parents, including on-campus family housing. And an all-expenses paid summer program for transfer students gave her a jump-start on navigating her new life at UC Santa Barbara. “Ever since I came here, it’s been a ripple effect, and I've been surrounded by amazing people,” she says. “It’s just a great feeling — good things are coming for me.”
What’s next? Jackson is determined to make the most of her time at UC Santa Barbara. From there, she plans to continue her education in graduate school and become a psychiatric nurse with a focus on mental health education and advocacy for domestic violence survivors.
