Student juggles completing undergraduate degree while raising child
Katelyn Gerardi gets a lot of second glances while on campus, but she knows people aren't just looking at her.
The 21-year-old junior has a 16-month-old son named Brayden who she brings to some of her classes.
Gerardi, a California native, doesn't think people stare to be mean, but the surprise she sees in their eyes concerns her. She said she wants people to know that becoming a parent is a very real possibility, even for undergraduate students.
“It's important for people to know it's a struggle,” Gerardi said. “It's not just cute and fun. I love my son very much, but it's something that (I) should have waited (for).”
Gerardi remembers her freshman year, when she could go out every weekend just to have a good time. Now, she has to plan ahead for things many students take for granted.
“I don't have the option of going to the library whenever I want to do homework,” she said. “My family is from California. I came here for college, so I can't call my mom or my sister and say 'Hey, can you watch him?'”
Gerardi gets help with Brayden from her fiance, Mount Pleasant resident Marcus Vogel.
Gerardi said she and Vogel have lived together for almost three years, and that he has postponed taking classes at Mid Michigan Community College until she finishes her degree.
Gerardi said balancing her time is the biggest challenge as a mother going through college.
One of Gerardi's friends, Laura Jamieson, a Bloomfield Hills sophomore, said Gerardi had grown as a person since they met last semester.
“She is a great mother and just wants to be a good student,” Jamieson said.
Holly Hoffman, an assistant professor of counseling and special education and special education unit coordinator, said she doesn't think Gerardi sees being a mother as a challenge.
“She has to balance and juggle so many things,” Hoffman said. “She has mastered that. She's doing all of those things with a smile on her face.”
Gerardi hasn't been all smiles all the time, though. In the past few years she has seen friends get pregnant and drop out of school. Gerardi said dropping out of school was a path she considered as well.
“When I found out I was pregnant, I almost quit school,” Gerardi said. “I had no one here on campus to say, 'No, you can do it. You can finish this.'”
Gerardi said she sees this as a point where CMU should step in. She said she believes there should be a support group on campus for parents going through school.
She said if nothing else, such a group would at least show students there are others in a similar position — there are others who are making it.
