High school junior will graduate with an associates degree, hopes to be a nurse by 20
Published at | Updated at
IDAHO FALLS — Amberleigh Peoples is a junior at Alturas Preparatory Academy. She is enrolled in a dual-credit program through the College of Eastern Idaho and will graduate from high school next spring with an Associate’s Degree.
As recently as last year, Amberleigh was “dead set” on being a veterinarian, she told EastIdahoNews.com. However, she decided to “take the challenge” of college-level medical classes and work toward being a nurse while still enrolled in high school.
As if taking college-level core credit classes like history, math and English wasn’t enough, Peoples has also completed communications classes and is currently taking Intro to Medical Terminology and Anatomy and Physiology courses. She plans to take the CNA — certified nursing assistant — course this summer, making her eligible to hold the position during her senior year of high school.
She credits her family’s decision to move from Alabama to Idaho and finding Alturas with presenting these opportunities.
“It’s a great opportunity. It’s amazing,” she said. “I would have never gotten this opportunity — this school is just so amazing.”
When she doesn’t have her nose buried in one of many textbooks, Peoples competes in both soccer and track for Idaho Falls High School. Whatever free time she has left, she joins her family in volunteering at several non-profit organizations in the Idaho Falls area — like Idaho Falls Rescue Mission, among several others.
“We’re very involved in our community,” she said.
Asked what subfield within the medical field she would prefer to pursue, Peoples explained that she is keeping her options open, adding that no singular field is out of the question.
“I’m very curious about all the different types of medicine — I don’t really know which one interests me the most yet. I just know that I want to be a nurse,” she said.
But what she is certain about is that she wants to dedicate her life to serving and helping others by becoming a CNA or nurse practitioner at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center within three years.