More than just students

Sophomore Eboni Gatlin rises at 8 a.m. every day, just as the sun is peeking into the window of her Arlington Park apartment.\nShe gets ready for class and packs her bookbag. Then Gatlin wakes up her roommate -- her 2-year-old daughter.\nWhile the teenage pregnancy rate in the United States is declining, around 40 percent of teenage girls will become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20, and only 1.5 percent will have a college degree by the age of 30, according to www.plannedparenthood.org. \nGatlin is an exception to the rule.\n"I never doubted I would graduate high school or go to college (when I became pregnant)," Gatlin said. "It was just a matter of where I would go."\nIn high school, the Kokomo native was a self-described straight "A" student, involved in numerous extracurricular activities. Being 17 and pregnant wasn't part of the future Gatlin had planned.\n"When they first told me I was pregnant, even though I was expecting to hear it, I was in complete shock," she said. "I went through lots of emotions, confusion, anger."\nInstead of going to one of the schools in Tennessee that she had been looking at, Gatlin packed up her belongings to begin her freshman year at IU. \nThe first part of her freshman year, Gatlin lived in the dorms, while her daughter Essence stayed in Kokomo with Gatlin's parents. However, by early November mother and daughter moved into an apartment and Gatlin began a regimented schedule to fit everything in.\n"The days seem extraordinarily long," Gatlin said. "I'm tired by 4 p.m. because I have to pack so much in. But it's extremely rewarding."\nAlong with the basics of life like feeding and bathing, part of what Gatlin packs in is play time after she picks her daughter up at day care.\nLike most 2-year-olds, Essence loves Elmo and reading, Gatlin said.\n"I love to teach her new things," Gatlin said. "She's very advanced."\nAmy Hill is one of Essence's toddler teachers at Penny Lane West Childcare.\n"She's very smart and talks very well for her age," Hill said.\nHill said the "toddler room" at Penny Lane West has 15 children in it, eight which are the children of full-time students.\nShe attributes this to the fact that Penny Lane West accepts government funding, so parents pay slightly less at there than they might at another child care center.\nGatlin said she found the center after getting information about child care from IU Child Care Services, which serves students, faculty and staff. \nTim Dunnuck, coordinator of child care services, said there are about 212 spots allocated for student parents. Of those, about 100 are currently being used by both undergraduate and graduate parents, he said.\n"Child Care Services is here because we need it," Dunnuck said. \nHe said the student enrollment in Child Care Services has increased over the past five years. However, Dunnuck said funding has recently been cut, so he is unsure if the increase previously seen will continue.\nGatlin said although she is in a minority as a student mother, the number is not necessarily a small one.\n"There are more of us out there than you'd think," Gatlin said. "Or maybe I'm just better at noticing them."\nGatlin said she has met other student mothers all over Bloomington. She said she notices those who have children with them when she visits the grocery store, and one time even began talking to a girl in one of her classes and discovered that the girl had a son around the same age as Essence.\n"There isn't a support group (for student mothers)," Gatlin said. "I wish there was, but it's human nature to gravitate toward others like you."\nGatlin said she thinks she has missed out on the stereotypical college experience. However, she was just elected to a Union Board director position and is trying to get more involved with the campus. \nThough it made Gatlin grow up faster than she anticipated, she said having a daughter is a rewarding experience, and she is nowhere near done teaching her daughter new things.\nBy 9 p.m. Essence is safely tucked away in bed and Eboni can begin her homework.\n"She's not a mistake," Gatlin said. "She's perfect. The pregnancy was perfect. I just wish I had her 10 years from now."\n-- Contact staff writer Kathleen Quilligan at kquillig@indiana.edu.