My Mother's Day Tribute to Moms in College As I look at the multiplicity of faces streaming across the Progressive U website, I am reminded yet again that I'm old enough to be the mother of a college junior. In most of my classes, I'm the oldest and most quiet person. I sit in the front of the class and hang on my professor's every word so I can write it down and memorize it later. Granted, I would've had to have been a teen mom giving birth at 16 to be some of your mothers, but in the United States, that is no longer a shameful trend or surprising fact. What is surprising, and definitely not as highly publicized, is the decrease in teen pregnancy. According to an article on About.com(1), all states showed a significant decrease in the amount of teen pregnancies. Though not a teen parent, I gave birth to a daughter at the age of 20. An ideal situation would have been that I'd gotten pregnant as I entered my junior year of college, but I wasn't. And now, 17 years, a couple marriages and three kids later, I have a 17 year-old daughter preparing for college in the Fall of 2007 and I am in hot pursuit of completing an Associate's degree in Small Business Administration by Fall 2007. There's a high possibility that my daughter and I may be attending college together for at least one quarter. Exciting, huh? Not! It is extremely difficult to pursue higher education with the responsibility of family and work. When you have kids looking up to you and listening to you, you can't complain about homework or an exam. Dropping a class is unheard of with the children around. What's even more difficult is saving for my children's college educations while paying for mine! Often times I question if it's all worth it. But part of my hard work and effort was made clear when I received a letter from the dean's office at my school congratulating me for making the Dean's List. Yes, yes...Mama's still got it! (1)(http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/teenpregnancy/a/preg_stats.htm)
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
I congratulate you too for what you've achieved so far. You are really ambitious, and even if it is difficult for you, I am sure all will turn out great! Good luck with everything, T-Mama!
Nice! I'm a mom in college. Very proud of all my accomplishments and you deserve to give yourself a big pat on the back! Kudos. :)~Marie