Rose May Pimentel was just a typical student at a state university, except that apart from her school bag, she would also be seen lugging around a baby girl and another bag containing a pack of diapers and feeding bottles. She was a regular sight negotiating the stairs at the LRT-Pureza Station then snaking her way to school in Sta. Mesa, Manila.
There was also a pressure for her to finish school, to be the first in her family to earn a college degree. Tears, lack of sleep, and endless hours of studying dotted her months of pregnancy. “I had to manage late nights of studying on top of my parenting duties,” she lamented. On this last, she acknowledged the help of her partner and father of her baby.
“There are a few people around me that have helped make me from a teen mom to a college graduate possible, thanks to my supportive partner, family, friends, professors and classmates,” she said.