And she was preparing for a career.
Regis University's Bachelor of Science in Nursing program is not simply classroom-based. The university says nursing students complete extensive clinical education, including 756 hours of clinical experience in health-care settings across Colorado's Front Range. The program combines nursing science, clinical skills, ethics, leadership, and community-focused care, with graduates becoming eligible to take the NCLEX-RN licensing examination.
That means Alana's new path requires considerably more than simply earning a college diploma.
Nursing school demands academic preparation, clinical training, practical skills, and the ability to work directly with patients.
For someone who spent childhood being watched by television audiences, the shift is striking.
She is now preparing for a profession in which the focus will be on other people.
From Reality TV Cameras to a Hospital
One of the most interesting details in Alana's current life is that she is already working at a hospital in Denver.
In April 2026, Mama June told PEOPLE that Alana was working at a Denver hospital while pursuing her nursing education. She also said Alana was planning to graduate the following year and was working toward becoming a pediatric intensive care unit nurse.
This is important because it shows that Alana's transformation is not merely something she talks about.
She is already gaining experience in a health-care environment.
Of course, working at a hospital does not mean she is already a registered nurse or a pediatric ICU nurse.
Those are future professional goals.
Her current status is that of a nursing student working toward the qualifications needed for the profession.
Regis University's program includes clinical education designed to help students develop hands-on nursing skills in real health-care environments.
For Alana, that means the future she imagined as a teenager is becoming increasingly concrete.
The person who once appeared on television wearing pageant dresses is now spending her time learning about patient care, health science, clinical practice, and the responsibilities of nursing.
Why Pediatric Intensive Care?
Alana has said that she wants to work with children, with her stated goal being a position in a pediatric intensive care unit.
Pediatric intensive care is a particularly demanding area of nursing.
PICU nurses care for children who are seriously ill or critically injured and require close monitoring and specialized treatment.
The work can involve infants, children, and adolescents with complex medical conditions.
It is also a field in which nurses work closely with parents and other family members.
That makes Alana's stated goal especially interesting given her own childhood experiences.
She knows what it is like to be a child surrounded by adults making major decisions.
She knows what it feels like to have family circumstances become public.
She also knows how important older siblings and other family members can be during difficult periods.
Her decision to work with children may therefore have an emotional dimension, although she has not claimed that her personal history is the sole reason she chose pediatric nursing.
What is clear is that she has repeatedly described nursing—and specifically working with children—as the direction she wants her professional life to take.
The Shadow of Childhood Fame
Alana's success in college cannot be separated entirely from the circumstances that made her famous.
She has been candid about how difficult it was to grow up under public scrutiny.
In her 2025 PEOPLE cover story, she spoke about her childhood fame, her mother's substance-use disorder, financial disputes, family instability, and the death of her sister Anna.
These are not small challenges.
And they occurred while Alana was growing up in front of cameras.
Her mother, June Shannon, struggled with substance use and faced legal problems in 2019. Alana has also publicly discussed disputes over money earned during her years on television.
According to her account reported by PEOPLE, she believed that money she had earned through television appearances was not available to her in the way she expected when she was preparing for college. These claims are part of Alana's own account of her family history and should not be treated as independently established facts about every financial detail.
What is less disputed is the broader reality: Alana's childhood fame created financial and family complications that continued into her teenage years.
In 2022, her older sister Lauryn became her legal guardian.
That change marked another major shift in Alana's life.
Instead of remaining under her mother's care, she increasingly relied on Lauryn and her family.
The arrangement continued until Alana reached adulthood.
For Alana, therefore, going to college was not simply a conventional next step.
It represented independence.
Her Sister Lauryn's Role
Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird has played an important role in Alana's transition into adulthood.
When Alana graduated from high school in 2023, Lauryn publicly celebrated her sister's achievement.
She described herself as proud of how far Alana had come and emphasized the obstacles she had overcome.
The sisters' relationship became particularly important during the difficult period surrounding Alana's mother's struggles and the death of their sister Anna.
Lauryn became Alana's legal guardian in 2022, according to PEOPLE.
That history helps explain why Alana's educational journey carries so much emotional significance for the family.
Her college experience is not happening in isolation.
It is part of a broader family story involving changing relationships, loss, recovery, and attempts to establish greater stability.
The Loss of Anna
Anna Cardwell's death in December 2023 was another defining event in Alana's young adulthood.
Anna was only 29.
She had been diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma and died after battling the disease.
Her death affected the entire family.
For Alana, the loss was particularly painful because Anna had encouraged her to become a nurse.
When Alana spoke to PEOPLE in 2024, she explained that Anna had jokingly warned her that she would haunt her if she did not go to nursing school.
Now the nursing degree represents more than a career plan.
It is also connected to a promise between sisters.
Alana has continued moving forward with that goal despite the emotional difficulty of losing Anna.
That does not mean her sister's death is the only reason she wants to become a nurse.
Rather, Anna's encouragement became part of the story Alana tells about why she stayed committed to nursing.
Telling Her Own Story
In 2025, Alana took another step toward reclaiming her story.
She narrated I Was Honey Boo Boo, a Lifetime film about her childhood fame and family experiences.
Lifetime described the project as a true-story drama exploring Alana's rise to fame, the difficulties that followed, and her determination to move beyond the labels associated with her childhood.
The film premiered on May 17, 2025.
Lifetime's official promotional material emphasized that Alana was providing her perspective on what happened behind the scenes and the darker side of growing up as a child celebrity.
This was significant because Alana was no longer simply appearing in a reality show created around her family.
She was helping narrate the story herself.
That distinction matters.
When she was six, adults were producing a television program about her family.
As an adult, she could decide how she wanted to discuss that childhood.
She could acknowledge the good memories while also addressing the difficult parts.