REGINA – Our attitude toward raising a baby in high school has changed dramatically over the last few decades, but there’s still a stigma attached to it.
“I think a lot of people think, ‘Oh, you’ve ruined your life. Oh, it’s a dead end. Oh, you’re a drain on society.’ …That’s not been my experience here at all,” said Nancy Felstrom, the coordinator of the Shirley Schneider Support Centre.
Young Regina moms, ranging in age from 13 to 21, attend the Shirley Schneider Support Centre, a teen parenting program at Balfour Collegiate.
“What motivates me to finish is my son and I’m expecting another baby,” said Shayleen George-Peepeetch, a 19-year-old student at the school.
A common thread amongst the girls at the teen parenting program is that their children are their inspiration.
“I want something better for my children. I want to go to university,” said George-Peepeetch.
“Because these students have a child, they are really motivated to do well in school to go on to post-secondary,” said Felstrom.
Former student Sarah Weese organizes and collects grad dresses for the girls. She was pregnant at 16, but the now 21-year-old is going into her fourth year of university.
“This program gave me everything. I got to graduate with better marks than I ever had,” she said.
Weese said part of her drive comes from proving she’s able to succeed in spite of being a teen mom.
“Being pregnant in a main stream high school, there’s a lot of stereotypes and a lot of stigma attached to it,” said Weese. “I’ll never forget, I had one particular teacher, when a bunch of students and staff were congratulating me, she actually came up and said, ‘Don’t say congratulations because she’s pregnant and she’s 16. Don’t say congratulations’.”
The Shirley Schneider support centre has been around for more than 40 years. The program, which includes a breakfast and lunch program, an on-site nurse, pre-natal classes, and a daycare has between 75 and one hundred students at a time.
“Having a kid at 16… it sounds horrible and I don’t wish it upon anybody, but it definitely puts you in gear to get your life together and really succeed,” said Weese.
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