A mom who chose life and achieved her educational goal of graduating from college has done so with assistance from a pro-life program. And Katie Chihoski will walk across the stage to receive her diploma with her 18-month-old daughter by her side.
Chihoski is the first student to graduate from University of Mary, a Catholic liberal arts college in Bismarck, North Dakota, under a new pro-life program. Launched last year, the “St. Teresa’s” program pledges to help single mothers by providing room, board, and child care as well as opportunities for building relationships necessary to help both mother and child.
Chihoski could have easily had an abortion. But she decided to give birth to her daughter and, as a result, the entire college has stepped up to assist her – doing everything from babysitting to feeding to connecting her with other young moms for support.
The Catholic News Agency has more:
Chihoski hopes to walk across the stage with Lucia, who will be wearing a toddler-sized cap and gown on graduation day.
“I think she will walk across the stage with me, if I can figure out the logistics,” she said. “I would love to make that a tradition for future graduating mothers.”
Chihoski said that although she had some worries about attending school with a young daughter, Lucia has made things “twice as fun.”
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“Coming to school, I expected to be seen as different, and somewhat outcast from the typical college life,” she explained. “I think it was difficult to get used to my tag-along when going to events on campus, but Lucia makes the world twice as much fun.”
“Attending school with my daughter, Lucia, has been the most amazing thing to witness,” she said. “Children bring out the joy in people and offer a fuller sense of purpose.”
“Our students hear all the time about how they can give their life away in love,” Ruggles added. “This community shows students what that can look like from a practical perspective and gives students an opportunity to practice that by giving their time and love to these mothers and their children.”
Today, women are told to put off childbearing to “achieve their dreams”: travel the world, graduate from college, succeed in a career, buy a house, volunteer for a cause and make a difference in the world before having children.
The problem is that this prioritization of life goals has led to shame and stigma around young motherhood, whether unplanned or by choice, and many young women who get pregnant feel pressured to abort their unborn babies.
Yet, so many other women have rejected abortion and still graduated from college, which proves abortion is unnecessary.
LifeNews Photo Credit: Fabrizio Alberdi, EWTN News in Depth
The post Mom Who Rejected Abortion Will Graduate From College, Get Diploma With 18-Month-Old By Her Side appeared first on LifeNews.com.
A mom who chose life and achieved her educational goal of graduating from college has done so with assistance from a pro-life program. And Katie Chihoski will walk across the stage to receive her diploma with her 18-month-old daughter by her side. Chihoski is the first student to graduate from University of Mary, a Catholic liberal […]
The post Mom Who Rejected Abortion Will Graduate From College, Get Diploma With 18-Month-Old By Her Side appeared first on LifeNews.com.