A small group of girls gather at the lockers in the crowded hallways of Clinton County High School. They talk about classes and about their dates for the weekend.
Sallye Young, a 17-year-old senior, has a date for the evening, it is with her 5-month-old daughter, Amber. Sallye dropped out of high school during her junior year to have a child. She returned her senior year determined to finish high school and get accepted to Berea College.
“I’m not sorry I had Amber,” Sallye said. “I used to be wild and a partier, but Amber changed all that.”
Sallye has to rely upon herself and her boyfriend, John, to care for her daughter. Sallye’s mother died 10 years before Amber was born and her father, Lonnie, is disabled.
Sallye gets up every morning at 5 a.m. to get Amber ready for the babysitter and herself ready for school. “She’s my pretty baby,” Sallye said. “I love her, but I sure hate to get up in the morning.”