"The Pregnancy Project" by Rebekah

"The Pregnancy Project" by Rebekah - February 2015 Scholarship Essay

When considering books that all high school students should be required to read, there was only one book that stood out in my mind. I have always loved to read, so it wasn’t difficult for me to enjoy books. But of all the books I read during my high school years, “The Pregnancy Project” by Gaby Rodriguez was one of the most influential.

The pregnancy project is a true story about a girl who wanted to fake a pregnancy for her senior project. The initial purpose of her project was to view the attitude towards teen pregnancy. However, over time she decided that the intent of her project needed to be slightly changed. As her project began to unfold and she documented the things peers and family would say about her, Gaby changed gears. She attacked stereotypes.

At the end of the year she stood up in front of the whole school at an assembly and had the students read things they started saying about her once she got pregnant. After everyone had read the hurtful stereotypes, Gaby shocked them all by revealing that she wasn’t truly pregnant but that she started to wonder if the stereotypes were true regardless.

Stereotypes are harmful, they shove people into boxes. I remember that there was a required book in my sophomore or junior year that was centered on stereotypes. I honestly can’t even tell you the name of that book. Why? Because it didn’t seem relevant to where I was in life.

“The Pregnancy Project” is a text that I believe can influence any teenager. It’s set in a high school setting. It depicts the cliques and drama that high school students experience on a daily basis. It’s a story that the high school reader can read and recognize themselves as one of the students and characters in the book. This book opened my eyes to see stereotypes in a way I could understand, in a way that I had witnessed. That connection is why I believe high school students should be required to read “The Pregnancy Project.”