Stress, Pregnancy, and Grief Shouldn’t Limit Success in School

Long Beach Is a Tough Place to Live, So I Want to Bring Health Care to My Fellow Students

In the next few weeks, a wellness center will open at Long Beach’s Roosevelt Elementary School, right across the street from Polytechnic High School. The center will have special hours that will help meet the mental, emotional, and physical health of teens. I am one of the people that helped launch the center—because I know how hard it is for students in Long Beach to get health care while also dealing with school.

During my sophomore year at Poly, I found out I was pregnant. When I told my family, …