The Year After College

Today I am the director of education for Planned Parenthood. I have developed plans for a child care center for low-income, single parent households. The beauty of the project is that the center is run by teenagers, with help from prominent child care professionals. This way, teenagers thinking about having sex can get a taste of what parenthood might be like. They can understand the responsibility. They come to me at the end of a hard day's work, 5 o’clock and I am still frantically typing up a proposal for my project to create a culturally aware message of contraception. With their eyes wide, they say “Marieke” (because I am cool enough to let them call me by my Christian name); “Marieke, I realize what parenthood takes. I know now what responsibility rests within the realm of having sex. Thank you, thank you.” I smile knowingly, and talk to them about their lives (I know what is going on in each teen’s life) and then send them home. Parents wary of the program can't help but notice the change in their child’s life, and write me letters. These letters cheerfully adorn my office in place of my degree from Gonzaga. Gratitude is my diploma.