Master Student

Master Student Presentation

Shannon grew up in a small suburb of Cincinnati. Goshen is a twenty-first century

Mayberry. Everyone knows everyone, it is the typical small town atmosphere. Nothing

ever happens in Goshen. At least that is what everyone thinks until something happens

to you or someone close to you. In my presentation I will show you how the

"unexpected" happened and how Shannon used being a "Master Student" to turn her life

completely around using some of the techniques of a master student.

In the summer of 1987, Shannon met the man she thought she would spend the rest of her

life with. She dreamed of going to college, having an excellent career, and of having a

big family. Shannon was raised in a strict, old-fashion home where an education was

very important. She was an average student but excelled at socializing. At the time

Shannon did not realize how important an education was to her future. The most

important thing to Shannon was her boyfriend, Kenny, and her friends. Her parents were

concerned with the amount of time Shannon and Kenny were spending together, so after

her first semester grades came in her parents decided that they had to limit her time with

Kenny so that she had more time to study. Shannon was not happy about the decision.

She decided that the only way to correct this situation was to work harder in class. As

time passed Shannon's grades did start to improve.

In April of 1989, Kenny's senior prom came around. Shannon begged her parents to let

her go. Her parents agreed to let her go. The day had come, Kenny and Shannon looked

wonderful. As they arrived at the prom everyone commented on how perfect they looked

together. Shannon believed this was the start of her dreams coming true. The evening

ended as perfectly as it had started.

Six months later, Shannon ran into a friend of her mother's at the local bowling alley.

Irene said to Shannon, "Boy, Kenny has really done you right. You have even started to

gain a little weight, you are not as boney as you used to be." After that conversation

Shannon really started to come to grips with what was really going on. She was 16 years

old and pregnant! She had just started her junior year in high school, Kenny had just

graduated in June. Her parents were going to be angry and devastated. No one was

going to understand. The next few weeks Kenny and Shannon started to discuss how and

when they were going to tell their parents. She could not hide it for very much longer,

she was already almost 7 months along.

One evening Shannon and Kenny were at Kenny's house watching T.V. when Shannon's

mother called and asked them to come over. After arriving at Shannon's house you could

sense something was wrong. Shannon's mother asked the two of them if there was

something they need to tell them. The time had come that Shannon and Kenny feared.

Shannon's mother, Jean, asked the two of them if they understood what this meant to

their goals and dreams. Until that point neither had really given it much thought in

regards to how drastic their lives would change.

In January of 1990, Shannon delivered a healthy baby girl. Times had now changed for

all of them. Shannon continued to attend school everyday. She also had to get a job so

that she could help support her child. Shannon and Kenny had moved into an apartment

of their own. Now she was not only responsible for taking care of her child, but she also

had a home to attend to. At 17 years old, this was a lot for someone to take on. Shannon

soon put herself and the baby on a schedule. She especially had to put a schedule

together so that she could handle her new responsibilities as a parent. Every morning she

would get up and get herself ready to go to school by 6:45 a.m.. Then she would get the

baby ready by 7 a.m. and take her to the sitters while she went to school. She would

leave school at 2:15 p.m. drive 10 minutes to her job, work until 9pm, and then leave and

go and pick her daughter up from the sitters. After she returned home she would spend

time with her daughter before putting her to bed for the evening. After she put the baby

to bed, Shannon would stay up, study, write in her journal and take care of the house.

Kenny worked second shift so he wasn't home in the evenings. She had to keep to a tight

daily schedule.