Student parents contend with more than just classes

Malcolm Smith - Features Beat

A good day beings around 6 a.m. Breakfast is prepared, your child is dressed and the required bag lunch is already packed. Your class work for the impending assigned class is complete, and you arrive at day care with little problem.

A bad day begins with the loving screams of your little one.
Breakfast is scattered all across the backseat and at day care, your child’s favorite playmate is suffering from a runny nose.
For many students attending Appalachian State University, the burden of studies and a part time job is multiplied with parenthood.

“My average day begins at 7:30 a.m.,” said seniorKim Kirkland. “Once [my day begins] it is rush, rush, rush.”

Kirkland said she began studying at Appalachian in 1993. She said she withdrew from classes in fall of 1994 to get her “life back on track.”

Kirkland gave birth to Kristano in 1996. Two years later, Kirkland returned back to Appalachian with a family and renewed sense of priorities. After years of little responsibility, Kirkland admits, “I [then] had to focus on Kristano and myself.”

Kirkland receives some child-care assistance from her grandmother. The support of family and friends allows her the flexibility to study and work, she said.

“My best friend and I trade off watching each others kids,” said Kirkland.

Appalachian senior Alandra Battles’ nine-month-old daughter, Elise, demands a great deal of time. “[Motherhood] takes up to 90 percent of your time,” said Battles. “She is all my attention.”

Once after sleeping late from a long night of studying, Battles not only had to park illegally, she arrived 20 minutes late, her homework was incomplete and she had to take Elise to class.

“[Child care] is hard [to obtain],” said Battles. “Day care is impossible. There is a year and a half waiting list [at some places].”

Many parents have expressed a need for child-care in the evenings for the purpose of studies and maintaining a job.

“I cannot do any thing school related until she is asleep,” said Battles, an Oklahoma native. She said, “Only time I have free is at the end of the day, and then I usually go to sleep.”

Yet, motherhood has brought Battles a joy she never imagined before.

“Motherhood offers a complete and unconditional love for another human being,” she said.

In high school, Eric and Crystal Woolridge were sweethearts. When they decided to attend Appalachian, they were not aware of another kind of education that was in store for them.

“It has been great,” Eric said about raising four-year-old Taylor. “A lot of young males believe a child will be a great hindrance and fear [parenting] will cause them to miss out on a lot. [Fatherhood] is a blessing.”

The Woolridges operated on an alternate schedule that would keep Taylor in the familiar arms of either Eric or Crystal.

“One of us was always home,” said Crystal, a recent graduate of Appalachian. “Our schedules allowed Taylor to be taken care of the primary first three years. We tried to keep her out of day care as much as possible.”

Child-care is a common issue among student parents. Parents at Appalachian often have to work part-time jobs to balance finances.

Battles and Kirkland both work at fast food restaurants, and Eric has worked as a waiter. Kim emphasized the importance of a sympathetic employer.

“They are really flexible,” she said of her current employer. “That is really important [having] an [employer] that understands being a student and single parent.”

Peggy Eller, director of the Child Development Center on campus, has worked at the center for 13 years and observes the bond student parents and the Appalachian community can have on the development of the children.

“The student parents form a bond with each other,” said Eller. “We offer an alternative to fraternities, sororities and organizations. The bond student parents form with each other is an integral part of their college experience.”

Dr. Dan Jones, director of counseling and psychology, offers healthy relaxation techniques to relieve the added stress of being a student parent.

“We help people with anxiety, help them relax and we are someone to talk to when they feel troubled.”