College is still possible with baby

LaChi Tabron arrived at the Friday conference with doubts as big as her belly.

Nearly nine months pregnant, the 17-year-old wasn’t sure if she could manage finishing high school, let alone college.

Could she afford higher education? What about child care? Transportation?

After attending Friday’s “Reaching for the Stars” conference at Metropolitan Community College, however, Tabron was focusing more on what she could accomplish than what stood in her way.

“I had doubts I would make it,” said the teen who attends Blackburn alternative high school. “They put in my mind that there is always a way if you put yourself in the path of getting it done.”

Sponsored by Metro’s TRIO (for low-income and first generation college students) and student support services programs, the 10th annual event for single and expectant parents included information booths from other area colleges as well.

About 150 attended, said Metro’s Cynthia Gooch. Some were college students. Some were young men. Most, like Tabron, were high school teen moms.

Speakers gave reasons single parents should stay in school, and gave tips on breaking down barriers to a degree.

Often, it is people closest to the single parent who discourage higher education, said keynote speaker Sherrill Mosee of Philadelphia, author of “Professor, Can I Bring My Baby to Class?”

Mosee urged the group not to be afraid of their dreams and to disregard “haters” and negative influences.

“Negativity will keep you where you are,” she said. “Keep moving.”

Mosee’s work was motivated by her own family situation. Her mom was a teen parent whose mother discouraged her from attending college, saying that her responsibility was sitting in a high chair.

What her grandmother didn’t recognize then, said Mosee, was that her mother would subsequently be financially dependent on the grandmother.

Now Mosee, founder of Family Care Solutions Inc., speaks to single parents about finding support services that lead to a degree and financial independence.

She said she encourages efforts to avoid unplanned pregnancies, but accepts the reality that there will be single parents.

“I believe that higher education will change the cycle of poverty,” Mosee said.

Tabron was among those who left with information on how to stay in school, be healthy and get rid of negative relationships.

The teen sees within reach her dream of becoming a cosmetologist or a pediatrician. She believes there is a way for both her and her baby’s father to go on to higher education.

“I haven’t made it there yet,” Tabron said. “But I know I can do it.”

Contact the writer:

444-1224, cindy.gonzalez@owh.com

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