Before I became a mom my priorities were all over the place. All I cared about was myself and having fun. I wanted to be with friends and party and school was one of my last worries. I didn't focus on my education as much as i needed to because i thought all i had to do was pass. Little did I know there was more to it. I became a single mom my junior year of high school and when I found out I was pregnant my mentality flipped a switch. There was more to my life now than friends, parties and me. From that point on all I cared about was finishing school then going to college. I knew that going to college was going to get me a great stable job to have my baby living in a stable home. I didn't want us living pay check to pay check so my future became super important. My senior year was very stressful trying to balance my classwork and my baby. There would be days that I would skip school because I didn't have any childcare. This made it harder for me to pass because I was missing class. I learned how to manage my time better to have time for my baby and my school work. I pushed myself to better not just for me but for my son, making him proud was my goal. Moving out is going to be hard because that meant paying rent. Working was my last worry because i didnt think that i would be moving out for college. I had no money saved up and I had to work to support my housing and my baby. I started getting unto learning how to do lash extensions and that was very fun. I took my 5 months to get the hang of it but that was my main source of income. I was stressing to find a job and after 3 months of looking for one i finally got hired. My child has been by my side through all of this. He has watched me cry, stress, and get frustrated. It all goes away when I look at him and realize that Im doing everything for him. I have worked hard balancing my new life. Changing diapers, stay up to finish school work, and financial planning was not for nothing. Now we both are going to a new town, with new people, to start a new life.

In school, my goal was to always be the perfect student that minded her own business. Throughout middle school and half of high school that is what I did. I loved learning and being involved in school sports. I played volleyball since I was in elementary and my goal was to continue that throughout high school and hopefully college. Although, my junior year I found out I was pregnant and it took a major toll on my life. I knew that my life was going to change completely. Even though I was happy I was going to be bringing a sweet little a baby into this world, I was also worried about sports and school. Telling my parents and the father of the baby was my hardest challenge. I didn't know how either of them would react and how the situation was going to result. Thankfully my parents were very supportive. They told me that I would just have to work harder in school and that my future was now going to look a little different. When the father of my child told me he didn't want to be involved in our child's life my heat broke for awhile. I was upset for a couple of months but then I realized that there were more important things to be focused on, that being school and my child. Having to be a single parent made several things more difficult for me to do. I quit volleyball and gradated ealry so I wouldn't have to leave my baby in daycare for so long. I transferred to a school that would help me finish faster a couple weeks after I found out I was pregnant to give me a chance to figure out my future. This helped me a lot because I was focused on graduating, work and my baby. When the time came for college application I still decided to apply. I wanted to make sure that even though still being in school while juggling a baby was going to be hard, in the long run we were going to have a great life together. There have been many girls at my school that became moms that year. I knew I wasn't alone and it made me feel better that they were also continuing to finish and graduate high school. Though not many of them were going to college. I wanted to set an example not just for teen moms but also all the students that have obstacles in their lives or feel as though they cannot make it far. Being a single teen mom has definitely taught me many things but the biggest lesson I have learned is that my life has not stopped. Now in the fall I will be attending the University of Oklahoma and will be moving out with my baby boy to start out new life.

My pregnancy experience was not the best. I had many downs trying to figure out the life I was about to start, my future, and problems with the father of my child. All of this at once at such a young age was difficult and finding a way to overcome that was also difficult. Throughout my pregnancy, there weren't many things at first that I could do to reset myself. The one major thing was being at volleyball. However, once I completely stopped playing in March it became a little hard to make this my reset button. Being in volleyball meant being a part of a team, and that was the reason I kept going. Every day my team would have morning workouts and most days was hard to get up and want to be out on the field with a lot of people. Although on the days that I would get up early morning and be outside in the fresh air, I noticed that made a big difference throughout the rest of my day. My teammates knew that I was going to be a single mother and they were very supportive and very helpful. They would make an effort to include me in anything they were doing whether it was hanging out outside of school or leading the stretches for the workouts. This meant a lot to me because I was still a part of the program no matter what. Now that my son is here, going out, working out or being with friends was hard to do. I needed to be with him and I was at school every morning so my afternoon time was spent with him. Even though I am a single mom I have lots of help at home. When I get worked up or overwhelmed I let my mom, dad or sister take my son and I go outside just for a breather. Having to be a mom means you need to understand that sometimes you have to just put on a brave face and attend to your baby, putting your troubles and stress aside. It took me a while to figure this out but finding different ways to calm down helped. Apart from being outside, I also found cleaning as a therapeutic method. When I finally put my baby to sleep I would clean or when my parents take him or his father I would clean. I don't get much alone time but I don't mind it I love being a mom. I know that my son needs me and I'm his main source of living because he is so little. This also makes me realize that sometimes I can't get overwhelmed and need to calm down, take deep breaths, and count to ten because nothing is worse than being worked up when I'm with my son. It makes me upset because I have a feeling that he can feel me like this. I want to be the happiest or as calm as possible to enjoy the time that I have with him before he grows up.

I became a mom in my junior year. This was the most difficult time trying to balance my old life with my future one. I had everything planned out. I was going to do great in school, and work and possibly get recruited to play volleyball in college. This was what I wanted but everything changed in an instant. Now I have different goals and a different outlook on my future. I want to become successful spend time watching my son grow up, and give him the life I never had. When I was growing up my family didn't have much and my parents would have to make ends meet. My siblings and I knew not to ask for much and to be mindful of how much we would make our parents spend. This is something I didn't want to put my son through. I didn't want him, at such a young age, to have to worry about money. I wanted him to have all the things he wanted, put him in a good school, and put him in sports. That is my goal. My future job bounced back and forth between becoming a teacher or pursuing business. Either one of these would make me happy because I love working with children and I love working with numbers. Since I had a baby I thought that maybe going into the business side of things would work better. My aunt also pursued business and that influenced me to want to do the same. If things ever get hard I have a personal teacher to help me. She lives in Austin, Texas and once I finish college I hope to move my son and me down there too. Planning my future is stressful and I've had many difficulties trying to figure out how I am going to afford everything and how successful will my plan be, but I've had so much support from my family that I have faith this will work. Continuing to push toward college after high school was my best decision. My mom had a kid when she was in high school as well but she didn't continue her education. This made her work a nine-to-five job making minimum wage trying to help provide for her son and future daughter along with my my dad. I knew that this was not what I wanted my life to look like, trying to make ends meet. I also knew that going to college meant that my process of making money would slow down because it would be difficult trying to get a job while taking care of a child and studying. In the end, it would all be worth the wait. I would get my dream job, and live in a nice town with my son, and he would be happy which would make me happy. The best thing that I could do for my son is give him everything. Every mother wishes to give their children a great life and if all I have to do is study in college for a few more years to make this vision a reality, then college is where I want to be.

Being the new kid halfway through school is not easy. Everyone has their set of friends already and most people know the other kids in school. When I transferred to my new school, 2 months into the second semester, I had no idea how to feel. I didn't mind it but I also didn't like it. The school fortunately was small so there weren't many kids to see or meet, but that also meant that everyone knew each other and being a brand new face to people was difficult. Most days I wished I never left my previous school but I'm glad I did. No one thankfully was mean or rude to me and this grew on me. My first day, like any other new student, was terrifying. The way this new school worked was everyone was doing their own thing at their speed. There were different grade levels in one class for a specific subject. For example, in my first-period, history, there were seniors, juniors and sophomores. We all had different assignments and we completed them at our own pace, this made the classroom dead silent. When my teacher introduced me, everyone stared at me. This made me feel uncomfortable and just made me want to curl up in a ball. These were the moments that made me want to go back to my old school. Although, luckily my classes were close to each other so there was no need to be out in the hallway trying to find people to talk to. I went from class to class keeping my head down and staying to myself. I also have never been the type to want to talk to many people so this wasn't out of the ordinary for me. One thing that made me want to do this as well was I was pregnant, the main reason I transferred. No one knew me or my secret and I didn't want to meet anyone because I didn't want the topic to come up. Being on my own worked. It allowed me to focus on my work and get it done fast so the time would pass by hoping that I could go back home as soon as possible. Not only was it challenging to be pregnant and be at a new school, but I also wanted more than anything to be with my friends. The great thing was that once I moved I really truly knew who my friends were and they still are now. I got to focus on what I set my mind to which was to graduate. Now I learned how to be more focused and determined to get good grades and get my work done.

I grew up in several different homes until I was in 4th grade. My parents tried their best to give me and my 3 siblings a great childhood and overall great life. Our home was filled with Mexican and Aztec culture, foods, decorations, music and art. We grew up speaking Spanish because my dad at the time didn't understand English. My siblings and I are now so grateful that grew up in a cultured environment and still have Spanish as our first language. My childhood was filled mainly with imagination. Whatever I could find to play with I would think it was something much greater than that. Because my parents would have made ends me we were not as fortunate to have the toys or clothes that I wished to have. That has taught me to this day to be thankful for everything I have. It has also pushed to to give back. Whether it's volunteering or donating that has become a big part of my life. Once I got into high school, all my interests changed. I was very involved in sports and volleyball took up all of my time. Along with volleyball, I had school. The great thing was that I enjoyed going to school. I loved learning, being in a classroom and hanging with my friends. I got involved in a lot of activities and programs at my school that seemed interesting to me. For example, I always wanted to be a teacher, so my school has a program called Academy 4. High school students would go to local elementary schools to mentor kids on how to be great leaders. This went on year round and I still love doing it to this day. Another club we had was the Hispanic Society. The club would consist of bringing Hispanic culture to our school and our community. My entire high school timeline was doing the best I could to get to a great university. Studying and playing volleyball was my world. Although my junior year I got pregnant. This made everything change and I realized that my life would change. Being pregnant at such a young age was scary but I got through it. I learned how to be better with my time and it taught me that anything that got in my way I could overcome. I now am graduating a semester early to spend more time with my son which has become my biggest blessing. Not only did having a baby encourage me to become a teacher, it has taught me many things. It has taught me to be patient and to take things slowly and it has taught me that I have a deep love for kids, not just my own. My end goal is to give my son the life I never had. I don't want him to worry about not getting the things he wants, I want him to be a kid. And soon I hope that one day he looks up to me and thinks that his mom could do anything that is set in front of her.

Becoming a mom during high school was very difficult and scary but has been the best thing that has happened to me. My future was changing drastically but my head was filled with many thoughts about what I was going to do after high school. My first option would be to continue studying to reach my dream goals but also have to sacrifice time with my child. My second option would be to work making the bare minimum and in the future struggle to give my ideal life for my child. I knew that school had always been very important to me before I knew I was going to have a child and I kept telling myself that if I kept going it would all be worth it in the end. Two people who are constant examples in my life have always been my mom and my aunt (her sister). My mom with 4 kids, having her first at 16, didn't go to college because she didn't have the support and she thought as though she couldn't find the time to fit school into her busy schedule. With that, she found a job through an online source and we live paycheck to paycheck to upkeep our house which is how I've always remembered it being, our style of living. My aunt, on the other hand, went to the University of Texas at Austin, graduated after 4 years and now travels across the world and lives a great life worry-free. Although they have a huge difference, my aunt has no children. Even though I am a mom I have all the support and a little human as motivation alongside me to remind myself that I can do what my aunt did. I knew that college was my best option not only to work my dream job but also to make sure that I could get my college degree to obtain a great job that will allow me to provide a great life for my child. My child is now around 4 months old. He is learning something new every day and requires me to pay very close attention to him at all times. I didn't realize that finding time to do school work, college scholarships and be with my child would have been difficult but only because I want to spend as much time with him as possible. I have had moments where I have fallen behind or have had trouble understanding what was going on in my classes because of my shift of focus. I put more time and effort into my child, which is normal for all moms, but I had to learn to divide that time and effort to make sure I was still on the right track to graduate high school and soon go to college. I learned to be better at time management and finding different ways to fit school into my new schedule. I try to complete all my assignments and study while in school or do everything when my child is with his father. Finding the ideal balance between school and spending time with my child is tough for me as a new mother, but attending college will benefit both of us in the long run.

Junior year is said to be the most difficult and important year of high school, academically, at least. My junior year has not been what I expected it to be, and I never thought that being pregnant less than three months into the year would be something I had to worry about on top of everything else. Suddenly, the idea of junior year being hard was not even the biggest stressor in my life. Compared to the obstacles that were already being put in front of me, finding out that I was going to have a baby somewhere between the end of junior year and the start of senior year put a lot of stress on my shoulders. I was flooded with so many questions. "How was I going to tell my parents? Could I continue playing sports? "What about school?" My brain was constantly full of thoughts, questions, and emotions, and all of them were unanswered. I was scared; that was the only thing I knew. I didn't understand how I could finish high school and get into college. I thought that my only option was to drop out and start working to provide for myself and my future child. My biggest concern was hiding that I was pregnant because I would still have to be in school. About 2 weeks after I found out, the process of figuring out what to do became more complicated. I knew I wanted to go to a good college and live out my senior year like everyone else, but I couldn't have a normal high school experience because I was different now. To me, everything was a problem or something that I needed an answer to, but it wasn't an answer that I could get right away, and that's what made it more concerning. Now I understood and accepted that my life was going to change positively, and the only thing that stood in the path of my future were my doubts. At first, I didn't like the idea of being pregnant at such a young age; I wanted to live my life and do what I wanted to do without any restrictions. Now I am planning to graduate early and apply to the top universities in Texas. My plans have changed, but they work out for me to get to know the person I am bringing into this world. I can attend college close to home, get a job that will allow me to work the hours I need to, and then be able to come home to my child. I have learned more about who I am and what I am capable of doing in a short three months than I have in my whole life. Being pregnant taught me that my life didn't have to stop; it taught me that I could do so much more in a short amount of time and become a more positive and productive person.