Tasheena Thompson, ’26: Ready to serve
Tasheena Thompson grew up in Tohatchi, New Mexico, on the Navajo reservation. She attributes her confidence in navigating Stanford in part to her experience taking a Stanford writing course and other college courses at her high school through the National Education Equity Lab. Now a pre-med student majoring in biology, Tasheena participates in ROTC and plans to commission as a second lieutenant after she graduates from Stanford.
Stanford Digital Education collaborates with the National Education Equity Lab to make a range of challenging college courses available to learners in under-resourced high schools nationwide. Students who pass the courses earn credit both from their high school and from Stanford on their transcripts; they also become familiar with the demands of college work and gain skills and strategies for thriving in higher education. Learn more about Stanford courses for high schools.
Transcript
TASHEENA THOMPSON: My name is Tasheena Thompson. I am a junior here at Stanford University studying biology with a concentration in neurosciences, and I am on the pre-med track. I'm also in the ROTC program, so I'm hoping to commission after I get my bachelor's as a second lieutenant.
I was born and raised in Tohatchi, New Mexico, which is similar to Gallup, New Mexico. I'm full Navajo, so very happy to be here and represent my people as well.
My parents didn't go to college. My grandparents didn't go to college. And I didn't really know what it was.
The high school that I went to had nothing. New Mexico is known-- I think it's, we're number 48 of the worst education states. Our education systems are terrible. And coming off a reservation in a border town, it doesn't make it any better for us.
Only a few classmates from my high school went to colleges outside New Mexico. And all my peers, and even some of the instructors and a lot of just family members from my rez told me I couldn't do it. I've grown up for so many years, since I was in elementary school, with a crown over my head, every teacher praising me, just being the smartest kid anyone knew. I was pretty an overachiever high school student.
It was a big help that I could take courses from Stanford and other universities at my high school through the National Education Equity Lab. I had a Stanford writing class, a Harvard poetry class, a finance class from Penn, and a literature class from another school. Ed Equity courses made a huge difference. Once I got here, I didn't freak out when something was confusing. I knew I had a foundation to figure it out.
Moving to Stanford was difficult at times, but I knew I could manage it. Within my first year, I became very active within the Native community, and I built a really strong community and foundation at Stanford.
But I transitioned into finding more people through ROTC, and that has become my comfort, and they've been my home. I've always wanted to be a soldier because I want to not only serve the United States, but I want to protect the people that I love.
I will definitely go to medical school. The end goal is to become a neurosurgeon and create my own hospital on the reservation. Me coming here and having the name Stanford under my belt has given me a name within my reservation, just because now these little kids are like, I can go to Stanford. And I think that was my biggest thing. My whole life, I just wanted to be a leader that does good. And I think Stanford has brought that for me.
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