There is a movement happening on GSU’s campus that few people know about and almost nobody talks about. It takes form in individual lives, quietly uniting people that have completely different stories, but who have become veterans of the same battles.
Student parents, whose actions are routinely labeled as “mistakes” are flipping tables in a culture of convenience.
I’ve seen men, women and couples on campus holding babies in their arms; young students that have become parents, we would argue, much before their time. I’ve had incredible conversations with fellow peers that I’ve met on campus, who show me pictures of their beloved children. Whether these are older students, coming back to education after starting a family, or undergrads who experienced an early pregnancy, these people are an inspiration to me, and I think we all have something to learn from them.
About 22% of college students nationwide are parents, and contrary to what most might assume, studies show that, on average, student parents hold higher GPAs than their counterparts. Men and women that have children while in school have simply more reason for endurance and perseverance, and show us that we are truly capable of more than we think.
One such parent, a first-generation college student at GSU, shared her experience in an interview.
Finding out about her unplanned pregnancy back in her senior year of high school, this woman said she faced pressure from family and friends to terminate the pregnancy. She, however, took the opposite route.
“Experience taught me not to live for other people and also to step up and take responsibility,” she said.
Instead of allowing her situation to cripple her, or seeing her rapid jump into adulthood as a weapon against her, this woman took it as a catalyst for growth.
“This is giving me resilience right here,” she said, adding that there was no obstacle she wouldn’t be able to face after this experience.
So often, we seek as comfortable a life as possible. But student parents show us that some difficulties cannot be anticipated. Something uncomfortable comes around, and it’s our response to it that makes or breaks us.
Student-parent life is not an easy road. During the challenging and dark days of balancing family and college, the interviewee said that looking at her son gave her the courage to go on.
“I’m doing everything for him,” she said, emphasizing also that her faith and reliance on God carry her through.
Every student parent, like this woman from GSU, is taking a stand. Refusing to submit to the cultural push toward convenience, they are taking responsibility into their own hands, an action that beckons us to do the same whatever situation we may find ourselves in.
Rather than seeing student-parents as failures, or as people who’ve made a mistake, let’s truly consider the merit of their decision to nurture life, while continuing their efforts to build a future for themselves and their families.
When I asked the woman in the interview if she ever regretted her decision she said:
“No, I don’t regret it. Because I wake up every morning, that means there’s a reason for my life; my son is that part of my life.”
