Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 8, 1995 TAG: 9505080119
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BREEA WILLINGHAM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When someone tells Michelle Peery that she can't accomplish her goals, those words usually fall on deaf ears.
When Peery was 16, she gave birth to her daughter Danielle; she married Danielle's father six months later. Friends and teachers told her that her dreams of going to college and becoming a doctor would have to wait.
That didn't stop Peery from pursuing her dream.
"If someone tells me I can't do something, I'll do it anyway. It's almost like telling me I can do it," Peery said.
Proving her friends and teachers wrong, Peery finished high school at Lynchburg Christian Academy a year early by combining her junior and senior years.
When Danielle was old enough to attend school, Peery entered Ferrum College. Now 24 and mother to another daughter, Amber, she has proved them wrong once again by completing a double major in finance and accounting in three years. She was among the 170 graduates who participated in Sunday's commencement exercises.
"I'm very ambitious, determined and driven," Peery said. "I'm not willing to stop until I achieve my goals, and I don't mind the hard work."
In the fall semester, Peery carried 22 credits; she carried 27 in the spring. She completed six of the 27 credits at other schools: three at Southwest Virginia Community College, and three at Virginia Western Community College.
"She's an outstanding student, extremely hard working and diligent. An A is anything I've ever given her. We'll miss her," said David Sulzen, assistant professor of accounting at Ferrum.
In addition to her heavy course load, Peery found time for extracurricular activities. She was a member of Phi Beta Lambda business club, placing second in a state accounting competition and 11th in the national competition.
Peery is also a member of the Students in Free Enterprise club, whose community projects include visiting elementary schools to teach students about the economy to encourage free enterprise.
And on top of all the studying and activities, Peery still found the time and energy to be a mother to 8-year-old Danielle and 4-year-old Amber, who share the same birthday, and a wife to Larry, her husband of eight years.
Peery used baby sitters to help care for Amber while she went to classes.
"Being a mother, wife and student was extremely difficult," Peery said. "There was a lot pressure ... and sleepless nights."
There were times Peery said she wanted to give up, but because this was something she wanted to do, she didn't.
"During my second year," she said, "both of the kids got sick right before finals, and I thought maybe I should take a year off to breathe and collect my thoughts. But after the summer was over, I was ready to go back."
Sulzen said, "The way she split her time between family and school was really phenomenal."
Although Peery's story of being a teen-age mother has a happy ending, she realizes a lot of teen mothers aren't fortunate enough to have the family support she did.
"My situation was different, because I had the support system from both sides of the family," she said. "If I didn't have that ... you have to have the dream first and then have people to help you."
Looking back, Peery said she has no regrets about having Danielle.
"I would've never considered abortion and could've never gone through with adoption. Being a teen-age mom wasn't that difficult, because I was always old for my age. But when I first started, I had an inferiority complex about being a good mom because everyone told me I couldn't be because I was young."
Peery said her plans include working for a year and then pursuing her master's degree and doctorate. Her ultimate goal is to teach at a university.
And to the friends and teachers who said she couldn't do it, Peery says, "Look at me now!''
by CNB