Happy New Year to all the eager eyes reading this month’s student profile. If you’re like me, watching the news can be depressing. You have death, murder, and overall mayhem at times. One thing that has lead the news as of late is the new Health Care Bill passed by congress. “Each one, teach one” is an old adage I’ve heard for years that suggests if you have access to something that may benefit someone else, you should share it with others. This month’s student took that to heart.
Kayla Walker, 25 year old resident of Ardmore, Oklahoma, is a Junior at the University of North Texas who has taken it upon herself to be the change she wants to see in others. It wasn’t long ago, Kayla was in the hospital giving birth to a beautiful son, Jeramiah. While, Kayla isn’t a teenager, at the age of 22, she was close to becoming part of a staggering statistic in Southern Oklahoma where youth pregnancy is 74%, three times the national average. At the time of her son’s birth a cynical nurse commented “We‘ll see her again.” For what it’s worth the nurse was right but for the wrong reason. Kayla decided in order for her to be the mother she wanted to be for her newborn son, she would have to finish school. She did just that, graduating from Murray State College December 2008. That same nurse, who considered Kayla another number in 54% of Oklahoma’s overall young mother pregnancy rate, sees Kayla on a weekly basis at Mercy Memorial Hospital in Ardmore when Kayla clocks in to work as a lab assistant. Starting this year she will also be working on the AGAPE Project at Mercy Memorial Hospital as their HIV/AIDS Instructor.
When Kayla became a mother, she was a month shy of her 23rd birthday and was learning the ropes of motherhood trying to comfort a newborn baby, “I would rock him back and forth saying, "mama knows.”. At that moment Ms. Walker made a decision to help others in her position, especially those in that 74 percentile. In 2007 she started “MAMA (Mothers Against Mommies Alone) Knows”. One of Kayla’s dear friends, Shema Yearby-Lincoln joined in the effort two years later. Kayla and Shema officially established MAMA Knows in 2009 and have been reaching out to single mothers in Carter County Oklahoma. Kayla is also a member of the Ardmore Young Professionals Organization and sits on their steering committee. “I support my community and the people of it, especially children. If there is anything I can do to help or if I know someone who can help, I will try and be that resource for you.”
Kayla admits it took some time to figure out what she wanted to study initially, but she is set to graduate from the University of North Texas in May 2011 with a General Studies Degree, focusing on Public and Community Service, Business Management, and Child and Family Development. Earlier I mentioned the old adage, “Each one, teach one”, well Kayla Walker lives it every day whether she’s at Mercy Memorial, meeting with a group of young mothers, or comforting her young son Jeramiah. Being a mother and student is a full time job, and adding her new position at Mercy Memorial Hospital would fill anyone’s appointment book. “There have been times when I had to fall to my knees and just pray to the Lord to grant me the strength...” Her prayers are being answered on a daily basis and she hopes that her goal to establish a resource center for teenage pregnancy in Southern Oklahoma will become a reality, but until then, she will continue to find comfort with two words, MAMA Knows.
Story by: Clarence Carter
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