My Personal Goals as a College Student. Paper only relates to teen parents beginning a new college education.

Essay by nmartinCollege, Undergraduate December 2003

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When I earn my Bachelor's degree, I will be the only person in my family to finish college. I am not the only one to attend, but I will be the only one to graduate. In addition to family relations, personal growth and my future, this is one of many goals that I will achieve as a University of California student.

I am a statistic. The odds of a teenage girl with a child, still graduating high school are much lower than a typical teenager. The odds of a single mother enrolling in college, then graduating with a degree is also uncommon. According to Maynard, R.A., author of "Kids Having Kids: A Robin Hood Foundation Special Report On the Costs of Adolescent Childbearing", only 41% of teen mothers complete high school and only 1.5% obtain their college degree by the age of 30. I will defeat these odds. I will set an example for other teen mothers that it is possible to accomplish one's goals, regardless of the threatening future that an early pregnancy can bear.

I will set an example for my children. There are people who may believe that setting this type of an example for a child may in some way promote the idea of pregnancy in young psyche. However, I plan to confirm the difficulty of achieving those goals with a family to provide for, and though poor decisions are commonly made it is possible to alter the road that one has chosen to travel. Whether it is teenage pregnancy, former drug use, dropping out of high school or any other adverse decision, there is hope with strength and determination.

I will feed my inner feeling of independence as a college graduate. Nothing is more self-gratifying than the awareness of individualism. As a young, female, American...