The Impact News

Issue date: 4/15/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Armando Reyes The responsibilities of motherhood often interfere with a mother´s studies.

Many college students can not imagine what it feels like to be earning their degree while raising a child. The stress of traveling, doing homework and studying, is difficult as it is, let alone having a child to care for simultaneously. It is challenging enough for most students to get themselves up and ready in the morning, but some have as their first priority being a mother each day long before they can become a student. Yet some students at Mercy College have proven that while the situation is difficult, it is not impossible.
Children are not born with manuals, therefore young and first-time mothers are forced to learn the job by doing it.
Cinthya Pages, a Mercy college student and dedicated 23 year old single mother, has been sacrificing her life to build a future for herself and her son. With such determination, Pages averages a GPA of 3.98 and strives to do her best. At the age of 15, she gave birth to a baby boy.
Did she ever think for one minute that she would be a child raising a child? She answered with a resounding "No".
But she was able to join the Navy, attend school and raise a child with the help of her mother, whom she graciously thanks. Not only was her mother there for her in the military, but she opened up a childcare facility program so that her daughter could continue her education, and improve her life, and build a strong foundation for her son's future.
She is now not only a full-time student, but volunteers at her son's library, helps children with their homework at her mother's daycare facility, and is a 24-hour round the clock mother for life.
Yet life is not always easy or calm for a single mother. Late at night, when Pages is awake doing homework and writing papers, luckily her mom gives her a hand and takes care of her son. When Pages attends her son's basketball games three times a week, , she is forced to do homework during halftime due to her busy schedule.

She takes him out to the movies every so often, but feels she doesn't take him out as much as she would like to, and refers to herself as a "boring mother". But that does not alter her feelings about her situation, and by making these sacrifices, she gives her son a role model to look up to.

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