Next stop: college! Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, 17, is preparing for the next stage of her education after finishing high school on Saturday, May 20. Alana’s mom Mama June Shannon, 43, opened up about what her daughter’s future plans are in a new interview with E! News on Wednesday, May 24.
Mama June admitted that Honey Boo Boo “is planning on going to college” and explained that her major is going to be neonatal nursing, which is a specialty in nursing that helps with newborn babies. Mama June didn’t reveal what college her daughter will be going to though, but it’s clear she’s very proud.
The reality star graduated from Wilkinson County High School in McIntyre, Georgia. When Alana walked across the stage, Mama June shared a video of herself cheering for her, alongside Honey Boo Boo’s sisters Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird, 23, and Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, 28. They could all be heard yelling their support and love for the grad as she got her diploma.
While some people may have thought the cheering was a bit much, Mama June brushed off the haters. “We pretty much screamed the whole entire time,” she told E! News. “Some naysayers commented, like, ‘Man y’all didn’t let anybody else hear their child’s name.’ But that’s really what you’re supposed to do on graduation, whoop and holler like crazy, because we weren’t the only family there doing that.”
After Honey Boo Boo had her graduation ceremony, she wrote a lengthy post on Instagram, celebrating that she had finished high school, showing that she was proud of herself. “The whole four years I was in high school I used to always say I can’t wait until I graduate and it’s crazy to think that I actually can say that I graduated high school now,” she wrote. “It still feels a little surreal for me to be graduating high school. but I can finally say I DID IT and if nobody is proud of me I’m proud of my damn self.”
Before graduating, Alana has taken part in plenty of the typical rights of passage for high school seniors in the U.S., including getting senior portraits done and going to prom. She seemed like she had a fabulous final year of high school.