High School With a Baby

I was one out of two girls in my high school that had gotten pregnant the year I had my daughter. The other girl soon dropped out and I was the one who decided to keep finishing school.

We hear too many times that young moms and pregnant teens are just "ruining their life" and that they will never become anything. I remember one day when I was pregnant and getting ready to go to school, I had gone to wake up my sister so she could take me. She looked at me and said "I dont know why your still going to school, you might as well drop out, not like your going to graduate now."

I think those words are the ones that stuck with me the most since this had all started. I simply did not respond to her comment and just said "Can you take me please?"

She grumpily got up and drove me to school.

Looking back now, I would like to thank her for telling me that. Because with her telling me that, it motivated me to want to do it even more just because she said I couldn't do it. I told myself I wouldn't ever let someone tell me I couldn't do something. I would do it just to prove to them that I could.

I heard it a lot from my mom too. She used to point out young girls walking down the streets with a stroller and walking towards a bus stop and would say "That's going to be you. I never wanted that life for you." I also heard "You think someone is going to want to date you now? No one is going to want to be with a young girl who has a baby and no life going for her. Your just going to me a single mother on welfare."

I never argued back. I would just let those words sink into my brain. Not because I really believed them, but because I was going to prove them wrong.

Ok, so trying to finish school with a brand new baby is not the easiest thing in the world. It's very, VERY hard but if I was able to do it, then anyone could do it. To top it off, I was already behind in credits and I had been told previously that I may not even graduate considering how far behind in credits I was. It was going to take a whole lot of work to catch up so I could walk on stage. That was my goal, walking on stage with my cap and gown, receiving that diploma and waving to my family on the bleachers who would be there watching with my baby in their arms.

Honestly, independent studies was much harder than had I been going to regular school. I had loads and loads of homework to do, and always had a deadline to get it all completed but had no teacher to guide me through it all and explain it to me. I met up with an independent studies instructor once a week who would just give me a packet, some books and say "I need this complete by next Tuesday." That was it.

I remember I was getting no more than 3 hours of sleep at night, and was always up very early the next day doing homework. That was my life...feed baby...do homework...change baby...homework...feed baby again...homework.

Prom was also coming up. I remember my friends kept calling me asking if I was going to go to prom. All of high school thats all I ever fantasized about...prom. I couldn't wait until the day would come and I would talk about what kind of dress I would wear and how I would do my hair. Now that moment had come, and all I told my friends was "I'm sorry, but I cant go." It killed me. It really, really killed me. I wanted to go sooooo bad.

I was surprised one day when my best friend had called me and said, "Mayra, your going to prom. We all pitched in and bought you your ticket and your mom said she will be taking you out to pick your dress." I cried. I was going to prom.

I believe it was a Saturday when my mom, my sister and I went out to look for my prom dress. It took ALL day, but finally I had found the perfect one. I was so excited and could not wait.

Prom night was my very first night I spent away from my daughter, she was about 3 months old and I had left her with my mom. It was so good to be able to see my friends again and my classmates. Everyone asked about the baby and how I was doing. The one very popular question of the night was "So, are you going to graduate?".

Funny how absolutely everyone assumed that I was not going to graduate. I didn't tell them anything, simply said "I guess we will have to see."

In late May I had gone to my independent studies weekly class and my instructor looked at me and said, "Well Mayra, never thought I would say this but...you caught up all of your credits. You have officially graduated before everyone else. I didn't think it would've been possible for you to have caught up so much, but you sure proved me wrong." She then had stood up and leaned over the desk and hugged me. That was the first time someone had showed me that they were proud of me. "Now," she continued, "your next step is to go back to your high school, give the principal these papers proving you have completed your requirements for high school and get signed up to walk on stage."

I couldn't wait to go back to the high school to get put on the list for graduation! Straight after class, I had my sister take me directly to the high school. I remember walking in there, holding my daughter in one hand and in the other hand the papers that I had to give to the principal and my heart was pounding and my hands were sweaty.

After he called me into the office, I gave him my paperwork and said, "I would like to be added to the list to go on stage in two weeks." He looked at the papers, looked at me, looked at the baby, then back at the papers and said, "I'm sorry, but we can't have you at graduation." His voice was so cold and heartless and my heart sunk and immediately my eyes filled with tears.

"But why?!" I was loud. He was not about to tell me that I worked so damn hard for this moment for him to just take it away. I was not letting him.

And he continued, "Well you apparently dropped out and now you want to come back and graduate. We cant have that."

I yelled back at him, "I didn't drop out! I had a baby! And I went on independent studies and completed my requirements for graduation! I finished all I needed to finish and now I should be able to walk on stage with everyone else!"

He just kept shaking his head and said "I'm sorry, but its too late to put you on the list."

I stormed out of his office and yanked the papers from his hands. I went out to the seating area and cried. Then, one of the secretaries there said, "Go talk to the other director. He's in the office down the hall."

I did just that. I walked in there, explained everything to him with tears in my eyes and told him all I wanted was to walk on stage.

I remember he folded his hands over the desk and he looks up at me and says, "You have been at this school since freshman year. You leave in the middle of senior year to have a baby, but, while you were on independent studies you brought it on yourself to complete all of the requirements needed for high school. You now want to go on stage in two weeks with your class. Well Mayra, I believe you deserve to be on this list more than anyone else. You worked hard for it and I don't see why you cant walk on stage. I'm putting you on the list, see you at graduation." I couldn't help but hug him and thank him.

Thankfully they had an extra cap and gown which they let me have!

Two weeks later it was my graduation. I had put my daughter in a cute purple little outfit for that day. And there it was, my moment. I walked on stage and received my diploma while my family cheered for me on the bleachers while they held my baby girl.

After the ceremony, all the families rushed onto the lawn to congradulate their kids. The first thing I did was picked up my daughter and hugged her and then thats when my mom pushed herself through the crowd, walked over to me and hugged me and said "I am so proud of you."

The journey was hard, i'm not going to lie. But I was determined, I was determined to prove everyone wrong. And, I did just that.

With hard work, determination and courage, you could do just about anything you want to do. Don't ever let someone tell you that you cannot do something, because you could do just about anything you set your mind to.