America’s Favorite Teen Mom

Last Monday night, I sat in the Communications building lecture hall and listened to Maci Bookout, an English Literature major, tell her story about getting pregnant at the young age of sixteen, and her fight to avoid becoming another statistic of a teen mother dropping out of college. Most of you know Maci’s story from MTV’s 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, but none of us truly see what goes on in her life when the cameras are turned off. She started off by telling us how she and Ryan, her ex-boyfriend and father of her son, were in love and how she felt safe around him. They never had discussed birth control when they began to have sex, and as a result two months later she found out she was eight weeks pregnant. Now let’s all do the math, Maci found out she was eight weeks pregnant, two months after she lost her virginity. Maci had gotten pregnant after the first time she had sex.
 
From the moment Maci found out she was pregnant she knew her life would no longer be “normal”, and she was okay with that, she accepted the responsibility. She never considered the options of abortion or adoption and chose to keep her baby. A junior in high school at the time, Maci attended summer school and an accelerated high school in order to graduate before her son was born. A few days after she graduated in October, she gave birth to her son Bentley. She stayed with Ryan and they moved in together. That January she started her first semester of college, and that’s where her struggles started. Maci ended up having to drop almost all of her classes, while keeping at least one to maintain a title of a college student.  This repeated in the next semester, while she maintained her student status through online classes.
           
Soon came Bentley’s second birthday, and two months after that she and Ryan broke up. Maci said, “it was one of the best things, we weren’t partners.” She went into her third semester of college as a single mother with a full time work schedule, full time school schedule, and an MTV film crew following her around. It was that semester that, with various odds against her, she finished all of her classes. “I knew I could do it!” said Maci. That semester she also started dating her current boyfriend, Kyle. He knew that Maci and Bentley were a package deal but didn’t realize Ryan would be a part of that package as well. That became tough for Kyle and they took a brief break from each other. Never losing focus, Maci realized that she could accomplish being a student and mother.
 

 
Even though everything is working out for her she “wouldn’t wish an unplanned pregnancy on anyone.” She has no friends who have kids and envies their carefree lives. Maci feels she lost her youth and is in “mommy mode” all the time. She finds it a struggle being a mom, student, and most of all young, with the fact that it all could have been prevented if she knew more about protecting herself during sex. The time between her having sex and getting pregnant was so short that she didn’t have the time to ask her mom for birth control. The hardest part of being a single mom, she says “is the emotional part, we’re not supposed to parent alone.” No matter how prepared you think you are to be a young mother “you don’t know ‘till you live it.” She advised the audience, mostly young UCF girls and a handful of boys, to embrace our college lives.
 
As for the new season of Teen Mom, which she informed us is real life and in no way scripted, will come back in June with all of the original girls. She stays in touch with her cast through text messages and emails. Maci wanted to make it clear that the show does not glamorize teen pregnancy, like some reports we hear in magazines. It shows viewers how teenage pregnancy can truly affect your life. As for the new cast of Teen Mom 2, she had nothing but positive things to say about each of this season’s young moms featured on MTV. She used to watch the show but likes to keep her life separate from MTV; “I like to think of myself as a normal person, not Maci from Teen Mom.” No matter where she goes people always seem to recognize her and the only place that she isn’t bothered is at school. Maci goes around and speaks about her life, sharing the importance of protecting yourself during sex.
 

 
After taking pictures will all of her UCF fans who came out to listen to her speak, I got a chance to sit with her and ask her a few more questions about how she balances her school life and life with the adorable Mr. Bentley.        
 
Q: What has been the biggest struggle over the past few years?
A: College has been a very hard thing to do, harder than I thought it was going to be. Aside from school, my mom instinct is fine, being a mom is obviously exhausting but being a mom hasn’t overwhelmed me. The hardest part is probably being a single mom; the emotional part of being a single mom has been hard.
 
Q: How important is it to have a good support system while trying to balance everything?
A: It’s huge, if I didn’t have my parents, Kyle, Ryan, and his parents I wouldn’t have been able to go to school. I would have been working full time. Without them I would be struggling and wouldn’t be the “favorite” if I didn’t have my support system.
 
Q: What advice would you give to young mothers who don’t have a good support system?
A: Adoption would be a good option if they don’t have a good support system. If that’s not something they are considering then just take it day by day. There is government assistance, grants for school, financial aid and some schools have day cares. You just have to do a lot of research, so you just don’t give up, your life so you can continue on and you can get an education.
 
Q: We all have our dream job, what’s yours?
A: To be a bestselling author! I want to write books and be in a million poetry books. I’m in the middle of writing an autobiography about teen pregnancy and my story. I don’t necessarily want to tie myself down to just one thing though.
 
Q: What do you do in your free time without Bentley?
A: I like to sleep a lot, go see movies since Bentley can’t sit through movies. I like to go out to parties and clubs here and there but I just honestly like to do nothing. When Bentley’s with me I am always doing something so I like to be able to just have me time.
 
Q: What is your favorite thing to do with Bentley?
A: He has a “Power Wheels Jeep” that he likes to go four wheeling in and he thinks he’s cool so probably that. I’m little enough that I can sit with him in it, it’s hilarious.
 
Q: How does it feel to be looked up to by young women and being in the public eye?
A: It’s weird because I don’t like attention, so it’s weird for me to walk by and see me on a cover of a magazine but I feel like I’m here for a reason. If TMZ wants to sell a story of me drinking a beer, but I can keep one girl from getting pregnant then I’ll do it.
 
Q: What do you miss most about life before the cameras and Bentley?
A: Being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want. If I wanted to go on Spring Break, I could. If I wanted to go out, I could. If I wanted to sleep all day, I could. And now none of those are options. If I want to go on vacation I have to bring him or find a babysitter to watch him all week.
 
Q: Do you feel like you have opportunities to have college experiences?
A: I feel like it’s possible because even when Ryan and I were together one night a week his parents or my parents had Bentley. I just wouldn’t want to overload myself. Trying to be young, a mom, and a student would just be too much so you have to give up the thing that’s least important and that’s being young.
 
Q: What’s your proudest mommy moment?
A: When he’s at his dads for the weekend and I go and pick him up and he runs out yelling “Mommy!” That’s probably the best part because I know he missed me.
 
Q: Do you think it’s harder to have a relationship as a young mom?
A: Definitely, it’s harder to find someone your age that’s ready for what you have because if you didn’t have it you wouldn’t be ready for it. I’m 19, if I didn’t have Kyle I would have to date someone who was like 35 it’s definitely a lot harder. It’s hard to trust people with your kid.
 
Q: What’s your proudest moment as a student?
A: The first semester I finished all of my classes! Even though I dropped some of my classes my first couple of semesters, I still went and tried but I would have to miss school because Bentley would be sick or I didn’t have time to do my homework. So I told myself I was going to quit wasting my time and my money and I was going to get it done.
 
Q: What goals do you have for your future?
A: I really just want to have family. I want to get married, have another baby, and finish school. I want to make sure I’m happy at all times. I don’t want to be at a job I hate and I don’t want to just settle for anything.
 
Q: How do you find time to study with Bentley around?
A: I wait till he goes to sleep around 9-9:30 and then I stay up till around 11:30 and get my school work done.
 
Q: What do you do to relieve your stress when life becomes too much?
A: It’s weird, I feel like people always ask me why I’m not going insane or how I don’ get stressed out. I know I should be stressed out but when I get in “mommy mode” I’m just used to it, nothing is too much. So yeah, I should be stressed out but I’m used to this life, I just deal with it.
 
Q: What do you think of UCF?
A: The school is beautiful and I love the diversity of people. There are so many different people, I’m glad boys came. It’s pretty and huge; my campus is the size of this room.
 
Q: What advice would you give to other college moms or soon to be moms?
A: Make sure you put your priorities in line. Not give yourself excuses. Bentley obviously comes first but in a way I was kind of using that as an excuse to not want to go to class to spend time with him but one day I’m going to have a job and he’s going to be in school and I’m not going to be able to spend all the time with him. I have to get through school for him and I. You have to finish school because that’s the only way you’re going to be independent.