In The Spotlight 'They're not alone': Greater Johnstown trio helping region's teen parents succeed in the classroom and beyond

Dec. 11—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — In Room B111 at Greater Johnstown High School, three women help teenage parents and those who are expecting children — not just in the Greater Johnstown School District, but also across the region — learn about raising children.

Program coordinator Jane Matthews, case manager Lanie Bracken and data clerk Roselyn Brandon work to provide new parents who are still in school with the resources they need to succeed in the classroom and afterward.

"We're that support for them, so they can carry through," Brandon said.

The grant-funded Education Leading to Employment and Career Training (ELECT) — Teen Parenting program was implemented at Greater Johnstown during the 1993-94 school year and has since spread to other schools.

The program touts a 93% graduation rate across 17 school districts and cyber schools in Cambria, Somerset and Bedford counties. That includes Central Cambria, Somerset Area, Ferndale, Westmont Hilltop and several other regional districts.

Between 60 and 70 male and female students are helped each year by the team.

ELECT has three goals: help students graduate from high school, explore post-graduation options and educate learners about pregnancy and parenting.

The trio also help new parents with attendance and grades and help sign them up for public services, such as housing or food assistance. The employees can further help if the students go on to community colleges or apprenticeship programs after graduation.

"We really try to keep a working knowledge of all the agencies in the area and how they can help our clientele," said Bracken, who joined the staff after college in 2008.

Bracken is a Greater Johnstown graduate and applied to ELECT because she wanted to be a positive influence in the area, she said.

"This is my community," she said. "I want to reinvest in my community."

'Overcoming barriers'

As an incentive to stay in school, students can earn diapers, a pack-and-play or stroller and other items by keeping up their grades and not missing class.

Additionally, children's clothes are handed out for free to those who need them.

"Another big part of us is overcoming barriers that's keeping them from here," Matthews said.

She's been with the program since the beginning and brought her experience from working for the Pennsylvania Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

Matthews described the work as rewarding.

She said that, at first, the schedules for services were not conducive to students remaining in school. Doctor appointments or meetings with social services often were scheduled during working hours — when the teenagers should be in class.

Kelli Beppler, 32, is one of the parents who benefited from the program when she was in school. She had her first child, Ethian, in 2007, when she was 17, and was pregnant with her daughter, Maddison, when she graduated in 2008.

"It was a little crazy — but with the teen parenting program, it helped a lot," Beppler said.

Matthews and Bracken would make sure she got up for school and helped her sign up for in-school daycare. They checked in with her every day when Ethian was in a newborn intensive care unit for a week after his birth and organized homeschooling when she was on maternity leave.

"Lanie and Jane helped a lot," Beppler said. "They're a great support system."

In her opinion, ELECT is a real benefit for all area teen parents.

'Made me grow up'

Ezekiel Miller, 32, said he was 14 and a freshman at Greater Johnstown when his son, Jyelle, was born in 2004.

"It made me grow up a little bit quicker compared to other kids my age," he said about the experience.

Miller said he wasn't alone in the life-changing experience, since he had a "great supporting cast" made up of his parents and siblings and Jyelle's mother's parents and siblings.

ELECT provided in-school day care for his child and enrolled him in a parenting class that taught him how to be calm and patient — along with other life skills. That was in addition to a full-time job, school and three sports.

"I do believe that program did help me," Miller said.

He appreciated the in-school day care the most because it allowed him to visit his child while he was in school.

The women agreed that teen parents such as Miller and Beppler deserve to be commended for their dedication and perseverance.

Bracken said she has a lot of respect for them because of all they have to do. From normal school work to raising a child and possibly having an after-school job, there's a lot of responsibility. That reality is included in the educational component of the program.

Matthews said it's not just learning how to swaddle a baby, but also budgeting, managing time, paying bills and establishing a bank account. ELECT helps with all of that.

Working with teen parents in the area can also have a benefit to the community.

"This is the future to us that we're working with," Matthews said.

ELECT also provides prenatal education to participants and, in the summertime, it organizes trips for the teenagers to take their children on, which allows them to interact with others who are in the same or similar situations. In the past they've visited local parks, such as Idlewild.

"They learn from each other," Brandon said. "They learn they're not alone."

She's the most recent addition to the program, having joined two years ago. She brought years of experience from The Family Group and Alternative Community Resource Program to the school district.

While she is primarily the program's data clerk, she also manages the donations and works in students support.

Brandon joked that, when she retired, she wasn't looking for a job but couldn't turn down ELECT.

Experiencing the work done from the inside has provided her with a better understanding of what the program does — and she's impressed by it.

A part of the job she enjoys is the random visits from the students throughout the day.

"They love coming here," Brandon said.

For more information on ELECT, call 814-533-5538 or email jmatthews@gjsd.net.

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