Demopolis teen follows grandmother's footsteps into nursing as she joins first ASHS class

When eighth grader Blair Carmichael McAdams begins high school this fall, she won’t be heading down the familiar halls of Demopolis High School like many of her classmates. 

Instead, she will become part of the first class selected for Alabama’s new residential Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences high school being built behind Whitfield Regional Hospital not far from Demopolis High School. 

The specialized health sciences school, announced by the state of Alabama, is under construction, so Blair and her classmates will begin classes this fall on the campus of the University of West Alabama in Livingston, with the permanent facility expected to open in 2027.

For Blair, currently an eighth grader at Demopolis Middle School, the decision to attend the new school came down to one person – her grandmother, Linde McAdams, a nurse practitioner at Whitfield Regional Hospital.

“She always would come home and tell me about stuff that she saw at the clinic,” Blair said. “And she just really motivated me to try to follow in her path.”

As a nurse, Linde McAdams has spent decades serving patients across multiple specialties and is currently working in wound care. Her experience gave her a firsthand view of the challenges facing rural health care – and why a training program rooted in a small community matters.

“There are so many obstacles for people,” McAdams said. “Simple things like transportation, finances, insurance – when you wrap it all up, it gets bigger and bigger.”

State leaders selected Demopolis as the home for the new school with the goal of training future health professionals in a rural environment, encouraging graduates to remain in underserved areas like Alabama’s Black Belt, where medical workers are in high demand.

Blair was one of the first six students to apply for ASHS and will be among 65 freshmen from across Alabama in the first class, according to spokesman Jonathan McElvy. The school is also taking about 20 sophomores this year.

Recruitment for the 2026-27 school year is open until April 27, with a goal of getting 200 applicants, McElvy said. So far, the school has students from Greensboro, Newbern, Selma, Dothan, Montgomery, Hale County, Huntsville, Florence, Mobile and Tuscaloosa.

McAdams said she supported efforts to bring the school to Demopolis from the beginning.

“I just think it’s so wonderful for the community and the hospital and the kids, too,” she said.

She is especially excited about the school’s accelerated pathway, which allows students to complete coursework that prepares them to take registered nurse licensing exams as early as age 17.

“That’s a lot of money you could save and a lot of time you’ve saved – a real leg up,” she said.

The RN degree will be through Wallace Community College Selma and other degrees such as LPN and credentials will also be offered to the students, McElvy said.

Blair admits health care wasn’t always her dream career.

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“In fourth grade, I was kind of considering it, but I was scared of shots,” she said with a laugh. “I wanted to be a hair stylist.”

Her mother encouraged her to pursue a college degree first, and when Blair learned about the new health sciences school, her perspective changed.

“I was like, yeah – I guess I’d like to follow my grandmother’s steps,” she said.

Blair and her family attended one of the school’s informational meetings held across the state to introduce families to the program, then she went through the application process that included online forms, teacher recommendations and two phone interviews. 

Students from throughout Alabama will attend the residential school, and Blair has already met her roommate from Huntsville. The two quickly became friends and are looking forward to living on campus together.

Blair said she is most excited about living in a dorm room and eating in a dining hall, saying she most looks forward to not having to wash dishes.

One of the program’s defining features will be hands-on clinical experience. Students will shadow nurses and health professionals in hospitals and medical facilities, gaining early exposure to patient care.

Blair already knows where she hopes that journey leads. She wants to work at the same hospital as her grandmother one day. McAdams said the idea of working side by side would be special. “Well, you will be during her shadowing,” she told her granddaughter.

Both grandmother and granddaughter believe Demopolis offers a unique environment for the school’s mission.

“It’s a really great, safe place, in my opinion,” Blair said, encouraging families to consider the opportunity.

McAdams agrees, noting the advantages of a smaller community where students can easily connect with local resources and relationships.

“It is a beautiful, really great small town,” she said.

The school is one of several specialized state-run campuses like the School of Math and Science in Mobile and the School of Fine Arts in Birmingham. But McAdams said placing one in a rural setting sends an important message about the future of health care.

“Bringing more workers who learn in a rural setting and accept the rural setting – we need it so much down here,” she said. “We need folks that want to come here and stay.”

For Blair, the opportunity represents both a personal milestone and a chance to carry forward her grandmother’s legacy.