16-year-old girl who gave birth to a child at junior school defies odd to graduate US high school, earns acceptance to university
Anyeli Salguero, a 16-year-old teen mother who gave birth while in junior high school, overcame obstacles to graduate from Bryant High School and gain admission to a US university.
Anyeli, who lives in Fairfax County, graduated with the class of 2023 from Bryant High School in Arkansas. In her farewell speech, she said that while their accomplishments placed them in a shared narrative, hers differed from theirs in that
“I know we all have different stories, but I know we all have one thing in common: today, we can say we made it.”
She stated that her story began with coming to the Unuted States when she was 7 from Honduras and she became pregnant at 14.
Anyeli did not let teenage pregnancy stop her from finishing her education. Anyeli’s achievement also made her the first in her family to graduate from high school. She added that her story and ability to overcome all her obstacles caused the school officials to pick her to speak at the school’s graduation.
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Recognizing the challenges of raising a child while pursuing her education, Angeli said she decided against giving up on her child. She remained determined and promised herself to nurture both her child and her academic aspirations.
As my graduation cap reads, “My diploma, her future,” she said, “I just think that I’m making everybody proud, especially my daughter.” Anyeli claimed that her education was her greatest source of motivation, particularly while she was walking over a mile when seven months pregnant.
Anyeli credited her success to Project Opportunity, a high school program that assists parents or pregnant students in earning a diploma.
The initiative also helps students get essentials, such as diapers, food, strollers, and car seats. Anyeli went on to say that her high school also offered parent transportation to the daycare where she drops off her child.
“I think it was really helpful to have my daughter at daycare downstairs because I could get off the bus, drop her off, concentrate on school while I was there, and then we could go home together,” she said.
Christopher Larrick, the principal of Bryant, characterized Anyeli as a fighter who never surrenders. He claimed to recall the day he first saw her, when she was seven months pregnant, walking to school and assisting her in finding a ride.
”She was actually in labor here at Bryant, on the stretcher, and the paramedics in our main office. And I was standing with her and I was holding her hand and she was crying and, we were telling her everything’s gonna be OK,” Larrick said.
During her senior year, Angeli interned at Genesys Works, a charity in Washington that provides skills training, counseling, and coaching for high school seniors who reside in marginalized regions and lack access to the resources needed to achieve sustained economic mobility.
Anyeli is presently attending Northern Virginia Community College for her associate’s degree after which she will move to Wilson College in Pennsylvania to study Business. Anyeli gave advice to those in similar circumstances, saying that taking care of a newborn is a tough job and should not be a justification for skipping school.
“Don’t use your child as a reason to skip class. There may be days when getting up, getting the infant ready, and going to school are difficult. That drive is essential,” she said.
