Response to S-L Project

Hannah Bontrager
Prof. Schurman
27 February 2012

I am really excited to start this project. Although timing will be tight with my demanding schedule, I am excited to observe and work with these kids. My initial reaction to our visit was what I expected, honestly. Being a teen mom I participated in classes at the Pregnancy Center in Kankakee, and now volunteering there, I have seen all different types of people with all different kinds of backgrounds. Also, being a teen mom I am on government aid- WIC- for my daughter so going to the Health Department I see people from all different walks of life come in there. So hearing what the YWCA does, as far as child care, I can't say I was altogether surprised at the "types" of kids that were there; kids from, typically, lower-income, possibly single parent (some high school moms) homes. Although I am a teen mom also, I was fortunate enough to have tons of amazing support from my family and church family, and a lot of teen moms, especially in the Kankakee area, don't have this help. I want to be able to observe their children and kind of see how, or if, they are different from my daughter in mannerisms and behavior. That being said, even though I am a Secondary Education major, I think it would be interesting to work with a child of a high school mother, maybe in the preschool area.

I hope this doesn't come off as sounding like "My situation is better than theirs, or that I am better than them" because I do not feel that way at all. My main goal as a secondary teacher is to provide hope for my students, especially those who may be pregnant, that there is life for them after high school. I want my students to be able to come to me with their problems or their questions and be able to see that I graduated college with having a baby young and so can they, all I want to do is help my students to not give up on themselves because I believe that they can do anything- even if I don't know who they are yet.

I think this would be a great opportunity for me to work with a child of a teen mother to maybe gain a perspective on what their lives are like, since, honestly, they probably are a little different from mine. Maybe gaining this perspective will allow me to maybe give suggestions to my students one day, or give them advice on how to maybe make their home life more conducive for education. Maybe I will be able to give them ways to create a schedule for them and their baby that allows the baby to get what they need, but also allows mom the time to do her school work and still have time for friends and herself. All I want is to be able to show my students that I care about them and believe in them, and that I haven't given up on them, so they shouldn't give up on themselves.