The PSA contest, part of Teen Pregnancy Awareness Month, asked high-schoolers to create a radio commercial that would address the issue of teen pregnancy and teen parents. The top two winners came from Turlock High School.

Brown won first place, and Roxanne Sarrielle, a junior, won second place. They each received gift certificates and awards recognizing their accomplishments.

The contest was sponsored by the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency.

In addition, Brown was able to record his PSA at the KWIN radio station in Stockton on Friday. His PSA will be broadcast on 97.7 and 98.3 FM for the next month.

The PSA starts with the voice of a host for the imaginary game show “Face your responsibilities.” It features a 15-year-old father who is allowed to do anything – as long as it doesn’t conflict with his responsibilities as a father.

When the teen father does something that conflicts with those duties, like playing basketball, a baby cries.

Brown said he came up with the idea while sitting in class. His English teacher Bill Avie, encouraged him to enter the contest. When he finished the PSA he read it to the class.

“They liked it,” he said.

He said he was unsure whether he would win because the spot represents the male point-of-view.

“I thought it might be a handicap, because most people look at the female side,” Brown said. “Guys are known to cop out on responsibility.”

With the PSA, Brown said, he wanted to point out the responsibilities involved in taking care of a child as a teen-ager.

Sarielle entered the contest because she thinks teen pregnancy prevention programs are a good cause.

Speaking about one of her friends, she said, “I don’t think she really understands the consequences of unprotected sex. I wanted to send a message.”

Her message revolves around the fairy tale of Rapunzel who was trapped in a tower. In her PSA, the prince comes to rescue Rapunzel but also wants to have sex.

Rapunzel then pushes the prince out the window.

Sarrielle said teenage girls sometimes think of high school romance as something akin to a fairy tale.

“Girls thinks it’s going to last and not have any problems,” she said. “Girls should think about what they’re getting into. They think it’s not going to matter if they do it once.”

She said the message of her PSA is that even if the couple think they are in love, they don’t necessarily need to have sex to prove it.

Rate drops in Turlock; still seen as too high

Figures from last three years are double the statewide average

Although the number of pregnant Turlock teens has gone down slightly in the last year, officials remain highly concerned about the number of babies being born to teenage mothers.

In 2000, 85 children were born to teen-agers, age 13-18; last year, 77 children were born to girls in the same age range. Laura Tarlo, a project director with the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency said Turlock’s average teen birth rate is about double the state average.

Comparing numbers over the last three years, Turlock counts about 87.6 births per 1,000 teen-agers.

“It’s not exactly where we want to be,” Tarlo said.

Samantha Phillips-Bland, program director for Stanislaus County HSA, said those numbers only reflect live births, adding that about 25 percent of teenage girls spontaneously miscarry because their bodies can’t handle the stress of carrying a child yet – and another 25 percent have abortions performed.

Experts figure that for every 100 girls that carry a baby to term, another 100 girls who became pregnant do not.

Before figuring out how to curb teen pregnancy, officials have to figure out why teens are getting pregnant.

Explanations

“There is a difference between intended and non-intended,” Phillips-Bland said.

She said that some girls think there is something lacking in their lives, and that by having a baby they will suddenly have a sense of future, they will get attention and become important.

Those who don’t intend to get pregnant, Phillips-Bland said, often may suffer from a false sense of invincibility.

Belinda Rolicheck, program manager of family planning for HSA, said that girls sometimes think they can’t get pregnant if they are using a contraceptive; only use it once; or do not use it properly. They can also get carried away by the moment, she explained, and think that it’s not “romantic” to use a contraceptive.

Alisha Blakemore, 18, was on birth control for a year when she became pregnant with her son Trenton, now 5 months old. She was a senior at Turlock High School at the time. Blakemore says she was depending on birth control and that her pregnancy was unintended.

Another major issue, say counselors, is alcohol.

“Alcohol is a big, big factor,” Rolicheck said. “(Teens) can’t control what their actions are.”

Blakemore concurs.

“Most of my friends got pregnant when they were drunk,” she said. “I’m the only one that didn’t.”

Lucy Jasso, an 18-year-old senior at Modesto High School, said she thinks the media contribute to teen pregnancy as well.

Programs

Jasso is part of a program the HSA is using to help curb teen pregnancy and provide services to pregnant teens and teen parents. She will be one of six certified peer counselors who will work to disseminate information about sex and sexually transmitted diseases. Counselors will also maintain office hours to help teens find out what programs are available to help them.

Blakemore worked with HSA to pass her GED earlier this month and began attending classes at Andon College in Modesto. She spends her mornings with Trenton and her afternoons learning how to be a medical assistant.

Rolicheck said HSA has recently established contracts for youth development programs at Westside Ministries and with the Hispanic Youth Leadership Council. She said that keeping youth busy with activities will help curb teen pregnancy.

Once such upcoming activity sponsored by HSA is the “Teen Night Out” at Boomers on May 23. At each ride, and HSA representative will ask a question about teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Once the question is answered correctly, student passes will be stamped and he or she can have unlimited rides on that particular attraction.

Education

Rolicheck and Tarlo also spend a lot of time visiting junior high and high schools talking to teen-agers about sex, pregnancy and STDs.

Rolicheck said that while their program is abstinence-based, options such as contraception are also discussed. She said it’s critical for teen-agers to be informed.

“They don’t know as much as they’d like us to think they know,” she said. “It’s a good time to talk about myths and set them straight.”

Turlock High health teacher Frank Clementi addresses sex education in his ninth-grade health class. He covers topics like reproduction, STDs, HIV, sexual harassment and the legalities of being sexually active and underage.

To address teen pregnancy, he usually has a panel of teen moms talk to the students and answer questions. Clementi said his program is also abstinence-based, but students also get information on contraception.

Tarlo said HSA counselors like to see sex education taught in each grade of high school. She said one way it could be done is to introduce the mechanics of reproduction in the early grades and go into more specific detail in the older grades.

“We need to take time to differentiate between sexuality and sex,” Phillips-Bland said.

Clementi said he would also like to see more detail introduced at the higher grade levels, however he’s not sure at which grade level – or in which class – such information be most appropriate.

Blakemore suggests that teen-agers be given a mechanical baby with a microchip for 24 hours to learn about the responsibilities of being a parent. She remembers her friends in other high schools being assigned a baby that records when it is fed, how often, if it is abused and when it is changed.

She said her friends that used the mechanical babies soon realized they could wait to have a real child.

Home support

Parents also need to play a larger role in educating their children, counselors contend.

“Adolescent pregnancy is not just an adolescent problem,” Phillips-Bland said.

Rolicheck says it is hard for parents to talk to their children – and sometimes they assume the schools are teaching them everything. Recently HSA bas been developing programs that focus on helping parents teach and talk to their children about sex.

“A lot of parents get the mechanics and know the body parts,” Rolicheck said.

But, she said, they need to talk in more detail about the subject.

The agency is willing to conduct seminars for parent and religious groups that will help them choose the best way to talk to their kids. Phillips-Bland said counselors now have updated information that may be helpful to parents when talking to their children about sex.

Blakemore said her biggest strength as a teen-age parent has been the support of her own mother, Jamie Blakemore – who was also a teen mother.

Jamie Blakemore said she didn’t get the kind of support from her parents that she has decided to give her daughter.

Parent, church and other groups interested in more information on teen births are encouraged to call the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency at 558-5322.

Heidi Rowley is a reporter with the Turlock Journal. She can be reached at 634-9141, or by e-mail at heidir@turlockjournal.com.

Reprinted by permission of the Turlock Journal.