National Organizations Unveil First-Ever Pledge to Prevent Latino Teen Pregnancy
"As a 17 year old girl who struggle everyday with this issue, I have to confess that it is not easy to avoid the topic especially when I’m constantly surrounded by a lot of kids in school who are sexually active and the pressure is certainly there.
Believe me, it is very uncomfortable when your peers ask you why you don’t have a boyfriend and why you are not into sexual relationships yet. For many of them to be sexually active is not a big deal and the last thing they think of are the consequences because they know if they become pregnant, someone in their family will take care of their baby.
But I can tell that life doesn’t get easier for them afterwards. I see them rushing to the daycare, shopping for diapers, dropping out from school and feeling frustrated when they want to hang out with their friends on a Saturday night yet they can’ t because no one can stay with the baby.
And when I see that, it makes me reassure myself that I don’t envision myself in that position and although I’m sure that many of my friends who have become pregnant used to think the same, often times, they’ve been victims of lack of information on how to prevent a pregnancy, lack of time with their parents to discuss these issues, and lack of activities in which they can get involved with.
If you ask me how I’ve done it, I would say that there have been many factors: The efforts that my parents have put into trying to give my brother and I a good education and keeping us enrolled in numerous programs so that our time is always busy and entertained; also the rigor of the school I attended to, St. John’s College High School, which I just graduated from this past June 4th being part of the National Honors Society, and definitively the role that Mary’s Center has played in my life through its teen program.
As a 17 year old girl who struggle everyday with this issue, I have to confess that it is not easy to avoid the topic especially when I’m constantly surrounded by a lot of kids in school who are sexually active and the pressure is certainly there.
I’ve become part of the teen program since I was 12 and I can say that here I have learned practically everything: from the dangers of drugs or consequences of teen pregnancy or alcohol abuse to college applications and job skills. As a matter of fact, it was here where I received help throughout the college process for the career of Psychology that I chose to pursue and I was admitted in George Mason University.
In the meantime, I will spend my fifth summer here at Mary’s Center as part of the Urbanitos, a Youth Employment Program for us to be engaged in a work environment at the time that we learn and stay away from the streets.
I know there’s still a road ahead but the barriers and challenges I’ve found during these teenage years have made me stronger and have prepared me to achieve my goals, which are definitely not to be a teen mom.
On August 26th, I will start my career at George Mason University… and I am very much excited to work in Child Psychology and to work mainly with children who have autism."
To learn more about the National Consensus Statement on Latino Teen Pregnancy Prevention, click here
