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Student Information Summer 2012

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When JTHS Infant Childcare Director Deborah Clark learned that Joliet Central freshman KiJuan Sullivan was named Student of the Month for English, it was a moment of celebration, pride and emotion.

Because the moments leading up to KiJuan’s accomplishment tell a story of perseverance. They tell a story of a teenage mother who beat the odds with support and with guidance.

The story began when KiJuan’s mother, Terese, was a student at Joliet Central High School. Terese was an honor student who graduated high school early, but juggling high school and parenting was not easy. The Joliet Township High School Infant Childcare Center was there to help care for her son, KiJuan. “I know that if the Center had not been there, I would not have been able to finish high school,” she said.

Terese recalls the difficulties of teenage parenting. Both her parents worked and could not watch KiJuan while she was at school. “I remember one time KiJuan was sick and I had to take a test. I exhausted every option before pleading with my mother to care for my son for a 50-minute time period while I took this test,” she said. “I had to rush down to the office immediately after taking the test to meet my mother so I could go home and care for my son and so she could go back to work.”

“There were a few female students in the office that were pulling back the blanket on his car seat and ‘oohing and aahing,” she recalls. “One girl commented on how lucky I was to have my mom babysit and how easy I must have it. My mother corrected her and told the girl she was NOT the babysitter. I also told the girls that this was not easy and that I rarely had any help. If I did not have the Infant Childcare Center I wouldn’t have even been there at that moment profusely thanking my angry mother for watching my son while I took a test. I always remember that moment when speaking about being a teen mom.”  Read more and learn how Terese was able to “give back”, click here.

This article was retrieved from the website for Joliet Township High School, www.jths.org .

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