Cradle to College – Teen Parents Must Navigate a System That Rarely Includes Them

Teen Vogue by

“Cradle to College is a three-part series examining the realities that teen parents face in trying to access four-year college — from lack of structural support to stigma — and how they plan to shift the notion of what a “traditional” college experience is, and who “average” students are.

Lynsie Kimple is 18, a high school senior, and gets straight A’s. She works several part time jobs, cleaning houses and waiting tables at a large chain restaurant. She is also the parent of one-year-old Quyntin.

‘[It’s like] all stages of your life being thrown together at once,’ Kimple says about being a young parent.

Kimple had her baby in December 2020, during the pandemic. Before that, she says her high school gave her the option of finishing a semester’s worth of work early, which she did. But around two weeks after she gave birth, classes started up again and she was fielding emails from her school asking her to log on to virtual class — both to mark attendance, and because Kimple says she hadn’t been given the option to work ahead on second-semester lessons. When she got the emails, she was surprised — she hadn’t known until then that, technically, her school only allowed up to two weeks off for a “medical excuse,” including giving birth. Teachers at her school who give birth get 12 weeks of leave.”

Read the full story by Teen Vogue here.