Transformers and Hannah Montana toys lay around the floor. The room is silent, as 6-year-old Joselin and 8-year-old Junior sleep in their small beds.
“Get up, it’s time for school,” says their mother, Martha Martinez.
The sounds of cranky voices respond.
“I don’t want go to school,” one says.
“Yes, you have to have to. Come on, you’re going to be late,” Martinez says.
As a sophomore in high school, Martinez, now 24, said she never thought about going to college after graduation. But when she became pregnant the next year, she knew “that decision was not going to cut it” and decided to enroll in college to provide a better life for her children. In August, she hopes to begin pursuing a master’s degree in accounting.
Martinez has juggled school, work and being a single mother since her junior year of high school. She said the hardest part of her experience has not been the sacrifice of money or time, as some might think.
“One thing that no one can prepare you for is looking at [yourself],” she said. “You have to think about what you say, what you do, and the role model that you are being for your children because they look up at you and want to be just like you.”
Though Martinez said she is happy to be a mother, she said her pregnancies were unplanned because they were results of unprotected sex.
Unforeseen results
High rates of unplanned pregnancies in Arizona placed the state second in the nation to have the highest number of teenage pregnancies, according to a 2006 Guttmacher Institute study.
Another study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, done in 2001, found that among unmarried women in their 20s with at least some college education, 77 percent of pregnancies were unplanned.
Experts and groups on campus are raising awareness on having safe sex.
Campus Health Services at ASU provides information about safe sex and sexually transmitted infections, or STIs, on its Web site, hands out pamphlets and gives out three free condoms to students per visit, Director of Campus Health Services Dr. Allan L. Markus said.
The clinic advises students to “use common sense by using a condom” every time they have sex. Markus said that is the best way to protect against STIs or unplanned pregnancies.
“We have seen a trend in students coming in who have not made the best decision of using condom, but are making a good decision to get tested before engaging in sexual relations again,” Markus said. “That gives us a chance on a personal one-to-one opportunity to give students the information about using condoms.”
Sebastian Porchini, a finance freshman, is part of an HIV/AIDS awareness organization at ASU called Helping Others Prevent and Educate, or AIDS H.O.P.E. He said the group works to inform students about the consequences of unprotected sex.
“When you’re in the moment before having sex, no one stops and thinks about the probabilities of getting an STI or getting pregnant,” he said. “People aren’t educated about that so they don’t think about it. That’s why we’re here to teach them about having safe sex.”
Markus said the peer-to-peer teaching about safe sex works best.
“One of the best methods of sex education is students advocating and talking to other students about safe sex,” Markus said. “We can act as experts but student groups advocating safe sex will be more effective in delivering the message.”
The National College Health Assessment, a study done by the American College Health Association last spring, shows that 2.4 percent of college students have genital warts or human papillomavirus, 1 percent have genital herpes, 0.9 percent have Chlamydia, 0.3 percent have pelvic inflammatory disease, 0.3 percent have HIV and 0.2 percent have gonorrhea.
Studies done by AIDS H.O.P.E. say that ASU is at the national average and, in some cases, below it when it comes to the amount of students with sexually transmitted diseases, Markus said.
“This gets rid of the myth that sexually transmitted diseases are running rampant at ASU,” Markus said, referring to the 2008 Trojan Sexual Health Report Card study that ranked ASU 119 out of the 139 colleges surveyed for the best sexual-health resources offered to students.
Porchini said students should get tested to avoid running a high health risk.
“People’s blindness is what leads students to not know about their health and the importance of getting tested,” Porchini said. “If students get tested more often, they wont run the risk of getting STIs or having unplanned pregnancies.”
Campus Health Services provides testing for most STIs including Chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV, and syphilis for $21. Insured students or members of the Bridge Service Program, a discount health-service plan for ASU students, can receive free testing, Markus said.
He also recommends students go to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health on 1646 E. Roosevelt St. in Phoenix, where the cost of STI testing is $20.
“We’re not here to make money, we’re here to help students have a safe sex life and provide them with services and to try to cover the cost of those services,” Markus said.
Challenges and blessings
When she was younger, Martinez said she never had anyone inform her about safe sex. Had she had more education, she said her life might have turned out differently.
“As a high-school student I was young, very young, and the responsibilities of a child were great,” she said. “I was not prepared for that.”
Martinez said being a single mother has been the most difficult part of parenting and going to college.
“It’s difficult because the question of ‘Where is dad?’ will come up sooner or later and then the [demand] of ‘I want a dad’ will also come up,” Martinez said. “A request like that is difficult to fulfill and difficult to explain to a child.
“They really do feel abandoned and like no one wants them.”
Nonetheless, Martinez said, being a mother is rewarding. She said what keeps her going is seeing her children’s smiles, hearing them laugh and watching them grow.
“The satisfaction that you get when you say I helped them become the better person is something that no one person or thing can replace,” Martinez said. “That is what keeps me going; to fulfill their many dreams, goals, and desires.”
Reach the reporter at griselda.nevarez@asu.edu.
