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Keeping young moms in school Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Terra Randleman, 18, sits with her 4-month-old son, Michael, in her room at the Magdalene House in west Medford. Supported by Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the home's mission is to help young unmarried mothers finish high school. By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune Terra Randleman is chopping veggies for the Thanksgiving turkey stuffing at Magdalene House. The aromas drifting into the living room where children are watching videos announce the turkey, yams, salads, pumpkin and apple pies and other goodies in the big kitchen. Randleman, 18, who is dividing her attention between the celery and her 4-month-old baby, Michael, was the first of five young unmarried women to move in here when the home opened its doors Sept. 17 on the west side of Medford. Three are mothers. Two are pregnant. Melissa Rivas smiles as she answers one of Randleman's cooking questions. Rivas, 30, is one of the housemothers here, and four of the children are hers. "It's good to be here today with my kids," she says. The nonprofit Magdalene gets much of its support from Sacred Heart Catholic Church, but it's run by a volunteer director and not the church. It takes in girls and women without religious qualification. Mothers on welfare pay $190 a month for food and lodging. Randleman gets $507 from Adult and Family Services. Residents with no children share in buying the household food. The mission is to get young mothers through high school. It's an exercise in growing up fast. Randleman says she was raised in Portland by an alcoholic father who quit drinking, then started again. "My family had a lot of problems," she says. She hasn't seen her mother since she was 9. She dropped out of school after the eighth grade. Also living with her is her daughter, Skyler, 3, who is with friends at the moment. When Randleman and her boyfriend split up last summer, she wound up in Dunn House, a women's shelter in Ashland. Michael was born while she was there. She stayed until her Adult and Family Services caseworker got her into Magdalene. "It was a little scary," she says. She gets up at 5:45 a.m. most days to get first shot at one of three bathrooms shared by the five young women and their kids. She catches a bus, taking Michael and Skyler with her to North Medford High School. She leaves the kids in on-campus daycare to attend classes. She's taking freshman classes (except for a junior English class) and points with pride to a report card on the fridge showing A's and B's. Rivas, who just turned 30, had her first child at 15 and by 19 was alone with four kids. "I can relate," she says of the girls at Magdalene. "We all do things that make our life harder." Krystal Rose White, 17, is one of the others competing for bathroom time. Six months pregnant, she lived with her boyfriend for a time. They moved in with parents to try to save money, but it didn't work out. "We were arguing all the time," she says. Her boyfriend, 19, has been in trouble with the cops, but it was minor, and it was when he was younger. He's doing construction work now. The couple are talking about getting help renting a place of their own through a Housing and Urban Development program. Krystal Rose had bad grades when she was younger but says she's doing better now. "School is a place to socialize," she says. "A place to turn to instead of drugs." She'd like to raise her daughter, someday go to college, maybe go into investigative reporting or criminal justice. "We've been blessed with an awesome group of girls," Rivas says. Three other young women who live here are out, either visiting or running errands. "The worst we've had has been a little snap," Krystal Rose says. "Never any big arguments." Krystal Rose is going out. She wants to borrow a sweatshirt from Randleman. She goes upstairs through a computer room and down the hall past one of the baths to get to the room Randleman shares with her kids. Soft light falls through the windows onto Michael's teddy bear-stuffed crib next to the double bed where Skyler sleeps with her mom. "He's so good," Randleman says. "He only wakes up to eat about once a night." Randleman has a sweatshirt that's open in front. Krystal Rose was really thinking pullover. When she has time to think about her life, Randleman knows things could be much worse. "I'm pretty lucky," she says. She has the support of other women. She has no quiet time though, no time alone. She'd like to graduate from high school, take some college classes, maybe while holding a part-time job. She worked as a waitress once in McMinnville and thought it was fun. "If I could have waited to have kids I would," she says. "But not if it meant not having the same kids. I like my kids." Three dressers vie for space with the beds. Pictures hang on the walls - some Canada geese, an osprey, a Monet reproduction - and photos of Skyler and Michael crowd the nightstand. One photo shows a group of teenage parents from school. Magdalene volunteers do the decorating, Randleman says. But you can do any decorating you want in here, within reason. Above a wicker headboard is a poster of a young woman angel. "Miracles happen," it says. "Angels are all around us, and every heart that yearns to can reach out and touch a wing." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.