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Foster
Hunt | The Appalachian
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| Angel K. Huffin had her first daughter
Dasani, when she was in the 11th grade. Now, the
sophomore psychology major maintains a 3.1 GPA.
She had her second daughter Celia, in June 2002.
Huffin said although many things have changed, she
tries to maintain balance, and is confident in her
ability to succeed. |
by Jana Nordstrand
Staff Writer
College students have a hard enough time just keeping up
with themselves.
For Angel K. Huffin, keeping up with herself and her two
daughters proves to be a challenge she is meeting without
slowing down.
In 2000, Huffin’s junior year of high school, she became
pregnant, and in an instant, her whole world changed.
“I had Dasani the summer before my senior year of high
school, and my world definitely slowed down a lot,”
Huffin said.
While Huffin finished high school in her hometown of Clinton,
she enrolled Dasani in day care. Unhappy with her decision,
Huffin’s grandmother agreed to keep Dasani as Huffin
continued to be successful in high school.
“My grades were very good, and they stayed that way
even after having a baby,” Huffin said.
Huffin originally wanted to join the military, but she fell
in love with Appalachian State University after spending
time with her cousin, who was a student at the time.
She moved into Mountaineer Apartments with Dasani in the
fall of 2001 and continued to balance being a mother and
a student.
In June 2002, Huffin became pregnant again.
“When I first found out, I panicked. I was like do
I keep her? What do I do? I needed to know if it was going
to be a healthy pregnancy and child, and when I found out
it was, I decided to keep her,” Huffin said.
Huffin didn’t stop going to classes while pregnant,
and although she had planned on taking a month off after
giving birth, she only took off two weeks.
“I felt good, and I just went back to class,”
Huffin said.
As far as being pregnant and among the student body, Huffin
didn’t feel uncomfortable.
“Everybody loves a pregnant woman,” Huffin said.
Joe Caldwell, Huffin’s boyfriend since their sophomore
year in high school and the father of Huffin’s two
children, Dasani, 3, and Celia, 15 months, is actively involved
with the children.
“She does the impossible. That’s it … she
does the impossible,” Caldwell said.
He divides his time between Clinton and Boone and plans to
eventually move to Boone.
What is the typical day in the life of a 21 year-old student
and mother of two?
Waking up between 7 and 8 a.m., Huffin, rises leaving two
hours to get herself and her daughters ready for the day.
She then drops Dasani and Celia off at the Appalachian State
University Child Development Center everyday.
The Child Development Center takes care of 73 children daily.
“These numbers are split down the middle in each classroom
where half the children are those of faculty and the other
half are children of students,” Paula Hicks, assistant
director and teacher said.
“My girls are really adjusting and coping well to this
environment, which is comforting,” Huffin said.
After dropping them off, Huffin said she heads to work at
the Appalachian State Infirmary on Mondays, Tuesdays and
Thursdays and spends Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in
class and picks the girls up at 5 p.m. from ASU Child Development
Center.
“ I take about 12 hours a semester and I try to get
as much work as I can done on campus. What I don’t
get done I just do at home after I put the girls to bed around
9 p.m. I have to make the best of my time, because if I waste
any time, then that affects everybody,” Huffin said.
Having such stresses and adult responsibilities has only
increased Huffin’s ambitions about the future and nothing
has stood in her way.
Huffin is a psychology major and plans to attend graduate
school after her tentative May 2005 graduation. After graduate
school, she hopes to obtain her doctorate and become an Industrial
Occupational Psychologist.
Huffin credits much of her strong will to the death of her
mother when Huffin was only 10 years old.
“After she died, I gained a strong sense of independence,”
Huffin said.
Although Huffin has always had tremendous support from her
28 year-old sister and from her grandmother, at one point
in her life, Huffin felt as if she had nobody to depend on.
“After I had Dasani, I felt like everybody had lost
hope in me. I had always been the good girl, but after I
had Dasani, everything changed. I felt like everybody looked
at me differently. It was my life, and only I could make
the right decisions for my family. I had to believe in myself.”
Although many things changed after Huffin’s two daughters
were born, she still tries to balance her life.
“My two biggest challenges are staying sane and the
finances. We are on a strict, tight budget, but we always
manage,” Huffin said.
“I still am able to go out occasionally, but when I
do, it is to the movies or something and that is a big deal,
just because we don’t do it that often,” Huffin
said
With the help of financial aid and a diversity scholarship,
Huffin has been able to manage her money and her time. She
is a member of the Student Parent Association and with a
3.1 GPA, she is also member of the academic honor society,
Gamma Beta Phi.
Huffin smiles as she talks of Dasani.
“I am trying to give her independence, so she sleeps
in the bedroom right now, and I sleep on the couch.
Huffin is scheduled to move into a two-bedroom apartment
at Mountaineer Apartments in December where she and the girls
will have more room.
“I have two daughters now, but my goals for the future
haven’t changed. I am determined to be successful and
achieve everything that I always set out to do,” Huffin
said.
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