A young woman named Erica Alfaro from North Carolina in the United States dropped out of high school at the age of 15 because she became pregnant. However, she has persevered and fought to return to school to complete her education.
Erica and her siblings were born to parents who did not have a formal education and were farmers. Her parents moved to the United States with the hope that their children would receive a quality education.
She mentioned that at the age of 13, she had a limited command of the English language, so her parents decided to enroll her in an English Language Development program. In the program, her grades suffered as she struggled to understand her teachers.
Erica said she was often home alone with her siblings while her parents worked 12-hour days, six days a week, and without any supervision. Unfortunately, She fell pregnant at the age of 15.
Join any of these WhatsApp Groups to receive more good news on WhatsApp
Because of her pregnancy, Erica dropped out of high school and moved in with her boyfriend to another state where she had no family or friends. She lived as a teenage girl with a baby and a boyfriend who was a drug addict and often beat her.
She added that she could not call the police because she was afraid it would make the beatings worse. “Even though I needed help, I was scared. I was just always afraid of asking for help,” she said.
On one of the nights when her boyfriend had violently attacked, Erica recalled going to work with her mother in the tomato fields and complaining to her mother that day about the tiring work she then encouraged her that they could only get a better life if they had a good education.
“My mom said, ‘This is our life. The only people who have a good life are the ones who have a good education. Even though my parents never went to school and they barely know how to read or write, they always told us that it was important to get a good education,” she said.
Erica said it was that moment she knew she had to take action if she was going to change her life, and she knew an education was the only way to make it happen. She said that night, she researched a home school program and enrolled.
She mentioned that it was not easy for her as a minor with no parents or guardian who was also living with a violent boyfriend who did not like the idea of her being in school. Erica said it was one of her teachers who encouraged her to continue her education after high school.
“He always used to say, ‘You’re never going to make it. Do you really think you can finish high school? You don’t even know how to speak English.’ But I just kept going. I did it for my son. I think I was able to get through because of my teachers,” she said.
She proceeded to college where she met a counselor who encouraged her to join and participate in campus clubs. Erica said the counselor also gave her a journal to write down her goals and among those goals was to stop living under domestic violence.
Erica graduated college and went on to enroll at California State University, San Marcos in the United States for a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She said even though she had self-doubt on whether she was smart enough she remained determined to fulfill her dream.
She said it was at the university she started reading about teen pregnancy and discovered that fewer than 2 percent of teenage mothers earn a college degree by the time they are 30. “When I read that I got scared I thought, ‘Wow, the possibilities are so small.’ I knew I needed to work harder to do it,” she said.
Erica was able to juggle school with working while at the same time raising her son who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in her first year at the university. She said whenever she thought about giving up, she repeated ”You’re going to make it. You’re going to do it. You’ll be part of that 2 percent”.
She mentioned that she goes from work to campus twice a week for long classes adding that she tries to finish studying and homework before the weekend, so she can spend Saturdays and Sundays with her son.
Erica said her goal after graduation is to pursue her master’s in public administration at San Diego State University and to be part of a nonprofit women’s resource center or even founding one herself.
Receive Scholarship Updates through our Social Media Channels:
- WhatsApp: Scholarship Region WhatsApp
- Facebook: Scholars Region
- Twitter: @scholarsregion
- Telegram: Scholarship Region
