By Sally Sanjuan

This year Halloween parties were not just for creative college students and candy-craving kids. Thanks to Associate Professor of English Deborah Byrd’s service-learning Single Motherhood course, Easton teen moms and their kids were welcomed to the Marlo Room for a festive afternoon of pizza, dancing and arts and crafts.

It’s not all fun and games with the service-learning classes though.

“I never understood all of the struggles and hardships that these women have gone through,” Alexandra Behette ’13 said. Service learning classes like this one combine

in-the-classroom studies on a societal issue and out-of-the-classroom service to make a unique learning experience. With her interactive courses, Byrd has worked to forge connections between students on campus and women in Easton.

“I think the community feels— more than they did 10 years ago— that the college actually cares,” Byrd said. Byrd’s students raised the money to buy the kids costumes as well as clothes, toys and books. The program aims to alleviate some of the stress that comes with parenthood. “We have spa nights,” Byrd added.

Most students who attended the Halloween party also meet with the teen moms every Thursday in the Pardee English lounge. “I was a little apprehensive,” said Emily Melvin ’12 of her first meeting. Too often, shows like Secret Life of the American Teenager and 16 and Pregnant paint a false picture of teen motherhood, Melvin said.

The meetings, however, offer a different view of these women and their situation. “It changes your opinion about teen mom shows,” said Melvin. “It’s been eye-opening to realize all the things they have to do each week.”

According to Byrd, 80 percent of the moms who participate in the program come from low-income families. A main focus of the program is to encourage the teen moms to stay in school and continue on to college.

“It helps a lot of people out that need it,” said Shamara Gonzalez, a teen mom from Easton who participates with the service learning class.

The class also offers the Lafayette students a new perspective on the issues they talk about in class. “These women are striving to go back to school, and support their families, and work all at the same time, so they have to grow up faster than the rest of us,” Jiselle Peralta ’13 said.

“I wish people had to take a class like this so people could be more understanding,” Behette added. Though the class has only18 students, the program is funded by the Easton Area Neighborhood

Center and the Halloween party was made possible through donations from Friends of Lafayette Football, the Hispanic Society of Lafayette, Lafayette Intercultural Networking Center and several fraternities and sororities.

“Easton is a city that has some significant problems,” said Byrd. “It’s good Lafayette is doing something to address them.”