Sixteen-year-old Britany Vazquez thought becoming a mother might end her chances of graduating high school. Now she spends her school days just down the hall from her 7-month-old daughter, Camilla, inside Fort Myers' Young Parents Education Program, a school designed specifically for pregnant and parenting students.
"When I got here, I realized I still have a future," Vazquez said. "I know what I want to do now."
Second Mile Education celebrated the ribbon-cutting last month for its Young Parents Education Program, known as YPEP, in Fort Myers. The program provides flexible, self-paced education for students in grades 7 through 12.
Students arrive on school buses each morning, leave their children at the daycare center inside the building and attend classes nearby.
For Vazquez, the support helped stabilize her life after becoming a single mother.
The program comes as Lee County continues to see teen birth rates higher than both the state and national averages. In 2023, Lee County recorded 20.8 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, compared to 18.4 across Florida and 19.3 nationally.
"I thought I wasn't going to graduate," she said. "Then I got here and thought, 'Oh, I might make it.'"
She hopes to eventually become either a nurse or a forensic investigator. Fifteen-year-old Kahlani Domaso became pregnant at 14 and said she was terrified to tell her mother.
"I thought she was going to kick me out," Domaso said.
Instead, her mother, Michelle Hemingway, became her support system. Hemingway said she understood her daughter's situation immediately because she had also been a teen mother. She became pregnant with Kahlani at 19.
"It was rough," Hemingway said. "But I wanted to support her and show her it was going to be okay."
Now, Hemingway says she wants other young mothers to know they can still thrive.
"Nothing is stopping them from getting an education or becoming what they want to become," she said.
Eighteen-year-old Khamoni Mallory is preparing to graduate while raising her 1-year-old son. Through a partnership with a neighboring trade school, she plans to continue into a welding certification program after graduation.
"I'm really excited to graduate," Mallory said. "I had a point where I was discouraged about school. I dropped out and came back."
YPEP also partners with the Harry Chapin Food Bank to provide diapers, formula, clothing and other essentials for both parents and babies.
"We're pretty much spoiled. They give us like, anything we want. We have a pantry full of snacks and clothes and shoes. Like, yeah, resources and stuff."
Enrollment in the program is free and open year-round. The organization says its Lee County schools earned the highest possible "Commendable" rating from the Florida Department of Education.
"They're not alone," Vazquez said. "You have teachers, resources, hope. Don't ever quit on yourself."
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