“Midterm GISH graduate has already overcome challenges”

Midterm GISH graduate has already overcome challenges

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 05:09 AM PST

GRAND ISLAND - Samantha Clark has a goal and a plan to reach it.

Clark says she will spend this spring applying for scholarships before moving to Kearney sometime next summer prior to enroll at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where she will work toward becoming a registered nurse with a bachelor's degree.

Asked why she has that goal, Clark said she knows that registered nurses with a bachelor's degree receive higher pay than registered nurses who do not have a bachelor's. She learned that fact from an aunt, who is a CNA, certified nursing assistant, and is now working toward a degree in medical transcription.

Clark said her aunt was able to explain the prevailing pay hierarchy when it comes to being a CNA, LPN, RN or RN with a bachelor's degree.

Clark will not be taking the trip to Kearney and to UNK alone. She will be accompanied by her son, Devin, who is just over 16 months old.

That means the Grand Island Senior High graduate has not only a goal, but also a challenge.

Mentor confident

Valara Mamot of St. Libory, who has been Clark's TeamMates mentor ever since the teenager was a sixth-grader, believes Samantha is more than able to meet that challenge.

Mamot said she has already seen Samantha overcome a number of challenges. When Samantha was in middle school, she was enrolled in the alternative education program. Mamot said she can recall making a TeamMates visit to Samantha when she was sitting in the alternative middle school version of a "time-out room."

Mamot also can recall when the middle school student spent a couple of weeks in the Boys Town program in Grand Island.

"She was fighting at school. She was fighting at home," Mamot said.

Despite those tough middle school experiences, Samantha was enrolled in the regular curriculum at Grand Island Senior High. But her TeamMate said even then, Samantha was not a goal-oriented student.

"Three years ago, she was not even thinking about going to college," Mamot said.

Ironically enough, it was the birth of Devin that made Clark much more focused. For example, Clark ended up graduating from Grand Island Senior High in just three and a half years. Clark said she made a very deliberate decision to try to graduate early.

When asked why, Clark, who was holding Devin, answered, "Because of him."

Motherhood fears

Although it is obvious that Clark loves Devin and cares for him very deeply, she admitted it was not exactly joyful news when she learned she was pregnant as a 16-year-old high school sophomore.

"I was scared," Clark said, noting that her fears centered on the challenges of being a teenage mom and what was going to happen to her education. All of a sudden, Clark saw her education as a key to getting a good job.

"With the economy, I was worried about being able to have enough to raise him," Clark said.

Another worry was whether Devin would be born healthy, Clark said. Teenagers, especially very young teens, sometimes have trouble delivering healthy babies. Clark said she knows of one girl, who was younger than her, who had a baby that seems to have a weak immune system and always seems to be sick as a result.

Fortunately, Devin was born healthy and has been able to stay on a normal development path for a 16-month-old.

Clark said she found support from several sources. She said her mother, who also was a teenage mom, was able to talk to her about the work it takes to be a teenager with the responsibility of raising a child.

She said Mamot also was a good person to talk with. She said her mentor had twins approximately four months before she learned she was pregnant. Mamot said she has four children of her own, as well as a stepchild.

That has given Mamot plenty of experience in parenting, which she put to good use during Clark's pregnancy.

"We spent a lot of time talking about how her life was going to change when she had a baby and what she needed to do," Mamot said.

She said one of the decisions that Clark had to make was finding good day care for Devin while she continued her high school studies.

Helpful sounding board

Clark said another sounding board for her was Nancy Jones, whom she has known since she was a very young child. She noted that Jones, who is the executive director of Grand Island's TeamMates program, taught her in Sunday school.

"Different people have different views," Clark said. She said it was helpful to look at the different perspectives to help her make decisions on how she would complete her high school education after becoming a mother.

Clark said she eventually ended up talking to her high school counselor and asking to be enrolled in Success Academy. After being in alternative middle school, Clark felt that Success Academy would be a good alternative for her as a high school student. She said she was finding it too difficult to be a student with an eight-period day at Senior High.

She knew that Success Academy, which teaches students through an online curriculum, would give her more flexibility than the typical Senior High schedule. As a new mother, she felt she needed that flexibility. Clark noted that she was not only a mother attending school, but also had a job at Cold Stone Creamery.

She said she knew that Success Academy would allow her to graduate from high school earlier. At Senior High, earning credits toward graduation involves showing enough mastery to earn a passing grade in a class. But to earn credit at Senior High, a student must do more than get passing grades on papers and tests. A student must also attend a semester class for the full semester to get credit or must attend a full-year course for two semesters to earn credit.

Clark said students at Success Academy earn academic credits by studying the online curriculum, then showing mastery of the subject by being able to pass a test. She entered Success Academy during the second semester of her junior year at GISH and was able to earn enough credits to graduate in two semesters.

Midterm graduation

Clark participated in the midterm commencement exercises at Senior High earlier this month.

Her ultimate career aim is to become a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit, Clark said. She noted that she has known students with hearing impediments and speech impediments and has known extended family members who have either physical or developmental disabilities. All of this has given her an interest in helping infants with problems get as good a start as possible in life.

When she goes to UNK, Clark will face additional challenges: finding an apartment, finding day care for Devin (she will consult with an aunt's in-laws on good day care) and balancing work at Cold Stone Creamery in Kearney with her responsibilities as a UNK student.

Mamot said Samantha is up to the challenge. Although her official mentor duties have ended, Mamot said, she will be contacting Samantha this spring to make sure she has applied for scholarships and gotten her application to UNK all in order.

"We're going to be friends for life," Mamot said.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.

Graduate Job

Friday, December 31, 2010