Her life is changed forever.

She's still a high school student, but she has a baby now, to care for and call her own.

How is she supposed to even think about homework and tests when she has all those diapers to tend to?

The answer is simple: with encouragement and support from others also in her situation.

	Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Wilkinsburg High School senior Deneen Boyd coaches her daughter, Shaiona, 2, on shooting baskets at Chuck E. Cheese during Project ELECT's holiday party for student mothers. Click photo for larger image.

The Allegheny Intermediate Unit's Project ELECT -- Education Leading to Employment and Career Training -- creates a network for pregnant and parenting teens, which helps the young mothers finish their high school careers and earn their diploma or a General Educational Development, GED, certificate.

The program, which also has an Early Fatherhood Initiative component, includes bimonthly home visits by AIU case managers to help with child development matters, mentoring and tutoring opportunities, nutrition education, group activities, field trips, budgeting and family planning information and education on domestic violence.

The students are provided with access to child care and transportation services, assistance in school attendance, vocational and career planning aid and help with planning goals.

Project ELECT also incorporates a specialized curriculum called Parents as Teachers, which is nationally recognized and based on the theme that "you are your child's first and best teacher," said Lynn Tatala, program coordinator.

"They learn from other people in the same situation," she said. "That's the strength of this program. ... It's about learning from each other."

ELECT operates in the Duquesne City, Wilkinsburg and Penn Hills school districts and the Forbes Road Career and Technology Center in Monroeville.

A program also is likely to start in Clairton City School District.

These areas were chosen for the program because of the poverty rates in the school districts, which range from 17 percent to 28 percent.

Between 11 percent and 16 percent of families in these districts receive public assistance.

Students up to age 22 who don't have diplomas or GEDs are eligible for ELECT and its Early Fatherhood Initiative.

Ashley Tart, 18, a senior at Wilkinsburg High School and mother of two children ages 2 and 9 months, said the program has helped her with transportation and maintaining relationships with her children.

"It helped me get a bus pass when I needed it, and also clothes for my children," she said. "I became closer with my kids. We spend more time together."

Tart also appreciates ELECT's group sessions, where the teen mothers talk out their problems with each other and participate in activities such as cooking and arts and crafts.

"We make [food and crafts] for our children and learn how to develop relationships," she said. "Now I know how to be patient with them, and especially how to care for them."

Tart added that the program is important because the support isn't always there.

"A lot of teen parents don't have the help," she said. "This is good to have because a lot of females have babies, and there's nobody to teach them [the skills]. Some people are born with patience, but it's easy to get frustrated."

Tart said the program reaches its goal in helping pregnant and parenting teens go the homestretch and graduate.

"It's good because it gives you encouragement when you need someone to talk to and it gives you that confidence," she said. "The help keeps you from giving up."

When Tart graduates, she plans to be a "full-time mom with a part-time job."

She wants to be a nurse and intends to enroll in Community College of Allegheny County's nurse's aide training program.

Anne Kramer, an AIU case manager for ELECT, said proximity helps the program be successful.

Parents as Teachers, for example, is used in the home visits. The case manager goes through lessons with the parents and their children during three-hour, once-a-week sessions.

"We work closely with the school district with a combined curriculum [that includes Parents as Teachers]," she said. "[The students] actually get credit for participating in the program."

The most crucial part of the program is the relationships that are formed, Tatala said.

"The personal relationships with the case managers [and students] is the most important piece," she said. "When you have good people doing it, it really does help."

Funding for ELECT comes from Pennsylvania's departments of education and public welfare. The money is allocated to the AIU, which disperses it to the school districts, Tatala said.

Approximately $4,000 in programming goes to each student through ELECT, she added. There are about 20 students taking part in the Wilkinsburg program, 14 at Forbes Road, 11 in Duquesne and six in Penn Hills.

McKeesport Area and Pittsburgh city schools have similar programs, but they get their funding directly from the state.

Wilkinsburg is unique in that it has its own social services department. So if a case manager sees a student who needs services the program does not provide, that teen can be pointed in the right direction.

It is also easier to track services to ensure they are not being duplicated for a particular student.

The services can include help for child care, homelessness, drug and alcohol problems, all of which affect academic performance, Tatala said.

For more information about Project ELECT, contact Tatala at 412-793-7000, ext. 203.