Troy teen mom beats odds to earn high school diploma

Sitting among her classmates in cap and gown, 19-year-old Lacey Erickson leans forward and smiles wide.

She’s not just thrilled to have earned her diploma – she’s making faces at her 11-month-old son, Tysin, as he reaches out for her from his grandpa’s arms.

Though teenage mothers are statistically less likely to complete high school than their peers – the U.S. Department of Education reports – other factors come into play.

Those factors for Erickson?

“When I was pregnant,” Erickson said, “I had all sorts of support from family and friends.”

Erickson not only graduated – she is enrolled at Flathead Valley Community College in Libby and has earned scholarships that will pay for at least her first two years of college.

The evening before her graduation ceremony, she watches her son make his rounds in the living room and kitchen. He practically runs from object to object – he has a ball, but sandals and a pen intrigue him more.

“Come here, you little stinker bug,” she says, laughing, as she scoops him up onto her lap.

When she told her parents that she was pregnant, there was no doubt that she would finish high school.

“That was one of my things,” her dad, Gary Erickson, said. “She was going to go to school.”

She and Tysin live with her dad. Tysin’s father, 20-year-old Zach Troutman, frequently stays at the house, too.

Erickson’s mom and mom’s boyfriend stop by regularly to see Tysin.

“They come over and visit,” she said. “All of us are friends. We have barbecues. They take him sometimes on the weekends.”

Erickson gave birth to Tysin June 22, less than three weeks after school let out her junior year. She resumed school the next fall, while her dad, a disabled former mine worker, stayed home with the baby.

“She rarely missed school even when she was expecting,” said Sandy Willis, her Title I teacher.

Erickson recalls Willis giving her a folder full of information about pregnancy. Her senior year, Willis helped her fill out applications and write essays for college scholarships.

“She helped me in school and kept me motivated,” Erickson said. “I’d be stressed out and she’d say it’s OK.”

Willis is one of three teachers who wrote letters of recommendation for Erickson. She is thinking about a career as a paralegal.

“She was always looking toward college from day one that I met her,” said Willis, who has been Erickson’s teacher for three years.

Erickson, ever smiling and positive, said that she has had less sleep and goes out with friends less often since having Tysin, but wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I think back,” she said, “and I don’t know what I would do without him now.”