Written by: Lucia Carrillo

W

alking down the hallway, students are carrying textbooks and thinking about their homework due for the next class. Noriko Navarro, a senior, is thinking about her daughter and if she has eaten.

Navarro is not the only girl on campus learning to face the consequences of teen sex. At Lincoln High School, around one in five girls who are pregnant or just had a baby meet with Penny Brown, Health Case Manager for San Diego Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting Program (SANDAPP) located in the main office in room 131. Brown is the school’s main counselor for these young girls. Some girls that she was worked with are as young as 10, she said. “Baby’s should not be an accident, but a choice,” Brown added.

And teen pregnancy is becoming a larger concern. The nation’s rate of teen pregnancy increased by 3 percent in 2006 for the first time in more than a decade, according to a New York-based think tank, the Guttmacher Institute.

For Navarro, her life changed completely in 2007. Unlike other sophomores, she had to balance an AP Biology class with plenty of doctor appointments. She was getting ready to be a teen mother.

Navarro gave birth to a beautiful and healthy girl in June 2008. She was named Dayanna Yamilet Lopez Navarro. Navarro never imagined she would be a teen mom, but it’s been a joy, she said.

“I will never regret taking the decisions I did, I just would have waited longer to take that big step,” Navarro added.

Most of Lincoln High’s pregnant teens end up keeping their babies, Brown said. When students make that decision, Brown said their first challenge is talking with their parents. Then they have to talk about prenatal care, following the right diet and qualifying for medical insurance. About nine of out 10 teen moms still graduate high school and move on to college, Brown said.

But it’s a lot of work.

As a new mother, Navarro said the support from her family and boyfriend has been wonderful. Her boyfriend’s grandmother cares for the baby while Navarro is at school. Her boyfriend, the father, has graduated high school so he can provide for his daughter. As for Navarro, she focuses on sharing love with her daughter.

“ I love my daughter so much, my life would have been so much different without her, I just can’t imagine life without her,” Navarro said.