A Young Mother Defies Negative Perceptions High schooler Jontrice Williams has been called an inspiration for

teen moms

The first thing you notice about seventeen-year-old Jontrice Williams is her smile. Pretty,

petite and soft-spoken, the Gibbs High School junior is one of those students that teachers

call “a joy to work with,” a dedicated and positive influence in the classroom. Recently,

Williams was invited to join the National Honor Society, a fact that quickly brings that

smile to her face when mentioned. Beyond this, to know Williams is to know an

exception. Besides wearing the roles of daughter and student, Williams is also a mother.

Williams days are filled with school and work, concerns about daycare and parenting

classes and diaper changes – she doesn’t have a car and relies on the support of her

family and friends to do what she needs to. The football games and school clubs and

other extracurricular activities are no longer a priority for her – with no regrets. For

Williams, her baby is the center of her life.

Jaiylan Sir Anthony Wyan was born at 10:45 p.m. on Nov. 24, 2003 in Bayfront Hospital,

after only three hours of labor. Jaiylan looks like his father, everyone says, but he has

Williams’ nose and smile. Mother and baby nuzzle together, with Jaiylan lighting up with

his own giggly smile. Williams’ mother, Teresa Robinson, a single-parent, looks on as

they sit in their south St. Petersburg home. Despite the circumstances, this is a family that

loves each other with a remarkable and enviable strength.

Williams was able to maintain her grades throughout her pregnancy, missing only one

day of school throughout her term, as well as working 30 hours a week at a local Kash N’

Karry. To see Williams is to see a young mother who defies the oft-negative teen mother

stereotype.

Williams, a St. Petersburg native, has always been an A/B student. She professes that

math is her favorite subject; she sees herself becoming a doctor later on in life, possibly a

pediatrician. She hopes to attend Florida State University in Tallahassee, she says.

To this, her mother replies: “I want her to really experience a little traveling, visit other

places…not to get stuck in St. Pete.” Like any mother, she wants the best for her

daughter.

Williams can now truly understand that type of bond. For her, having an abortion was

never an option. She says that when she realized her situation, she felt “fifty percent

scared and fifty percent happy.” She recalls mainly being afraid of her mother’s reaction

to the news.

For a while, she was able to hide her pregnancy from her family. She was six-months

along before she told her mother, who works as a receptionist at The Weekly Challenger.

“I was mad,” Robinson remembers. A mother of four, she had her first child around the

same age as well. It was through the support of friends, family, and prayer that her

perception about her daughter’s pregnancy changed. Robinson soon began to encourage

her daughter to stay positive, making sure that school and her job were her priorities.

During the pregnancy, Williams enrolled in Gibbs High’s teen parent program. The

program is sponsored by the Pinellas County School system, designed to help young

mothers develop parenting skills, serving as a peer support group as well. The program is

available, through parent permission, both before and after pregnancy. It’s a class that

both Williams and her mother feel has been beneficial over the last few months,

especially because of the daycare service referrals that the program provides.

The class’s instructor, Margie Senior, has been with the County’s teen parent program for

over 18 years. She has nothing but compliments to give about Williams, remarking:

“Jontrice carries a very pleasant attitude and she is very respectful. She is just a joy to

have in class…such an inspiration for other teen parents.”

“She’s an outstanding student,” a really wonderful example of someone who has it

together,” agrees Jennifer Carter, William’s social worker for the teen parent program.

Carter has found the young mother to be a positive role model for the other young women

in the class as well. She credits William’s own mother for this, saying that her family

support is key.

Baby Jaiylan’s father, Sir Anthony Wyan, is also a teenager, a student at Lakewood High

School.

No matter the circumstances, Williams is determined to do what she needs to in order to

provide for Jaiylan. Tonight’s National Honor Society ceremony at Gibbs will be a

reminder for her of what she can achieve. In becoming a mother, she’s realized newfound

strengths, she says. For her, at the center of it all is baby Jaiylan.