School Story:
I have lived in Oak Harbor most of my life and so of course, this is where I went to school. I was actually scheduled to graduate high school in 1998, but was forced to drop out of high school in my senior year due to pregnancy. Although I had high grades, and tried to make it to school each day, not so easy with morning sickness, I was told I was a bad example to other students and in February of 1998, the school took all of my senior year credits away, and asked me to finish school from home. I was not happy. I felt, yes I am dealing with an unexpected pregnancy, and yes my attendance wasn't always the best with the morning sickness, but I worked hard in my classes and my grades were good, so wasn't doing my best to finish high school, even pregnant, the best example I could be for the situation at hand? I guess it wasn't for the school, so, I had my oldest son in July 1998, and was back in school in August, 1998, to complete my senior year and graduate. However, by the time I found a daycare for my son in the afternoons, I had only been able to sign up for morning classes and was 2 days past the sign up deadline. So how was I suppose to only go half day the first semester, make up for lost credits the year before and walk with the 1999 graduating class? I was SO determined because so many people didn't think I would ever finish, so I did this. I did half days the first semester of senior year, as well as got a class before school for extra credit, as well as taking classes through the mail to make up for 5 full credits I was missing the second half of the day and past years. I took a full second semester load, plus 1 before school class, and 1 after school class, which both gave me credits. And somehow still come home at night to take care of my infant, who had to spend his day at daycare due to the fact that my fiancee was always working trying to support all of us since I no longer lived with my parents! Talk about alot of stress. And yes, some say I brought it on myself due to getting pregnant and all, but although my son was not planned, I wasn't going to abort a life to make mine easier. So, after all that, I found out 2 days before graduation that I had enough credits to walk with the 1999 graduating class and I couldn't be happier than to walk on that day with all my friends, and show everyone that it CAN be done. And the teachers and staff that had told me I wouldn't be able to do it actually told me they were wrong, and how proud they were! That was awesome to hear. So, that's my long intense, drama-filled story. I hope everyone has one to tell!
