A mother and student, Andrea Scales (B.A. ’19) will turn the tassel with her 2-year-old daughter in the audience.
By Austin Birchell (B.A. ‘20)
Andrea Scales (B.A. ’19) was a freshman living in Patton Hall when she found out she was pregnant. She and her boyfriend, Anthony Davis Jr. (B.A. ’20), moved out of the dorms and faced the question: What next?
The expecting couple went to lunch with Scales’ mother the next day. Her first reaction to the news was, “What’s the plan?”
“I told her, ‘I’m going to go to school and go to work.’ That was the plan,” Scales said. “There was no other option.”
Scales’ academic career never missed a beat through her pregnancy. She stayed a full-time student following her freshman year and even attended summer classes.
“I switched to online classes as my due date got closer,” she said. “I didn’t want to pop in one of my classes.”
Just weeks after Scales gave birth to her daughter, Ari, she had to take finals. With little time to study, Scales left Ari with her grandmother to take her exams.
The next two years would prove to be just as challenging. The journalism major spent nights with homework scattered across a table and her daughter in her lap.
“The biggest challenge for me was staying focused,” Scales said. “There was always something I needed to do for class and something I needed to do for Ari. All of the work was worth it because I knew a degree and a job would be the best way to make sure Ari was taken care of. That was the motivation to graduate the whole time.”
One week before commencement, Scales tweeted a “Throwback Thursday” post. The tweet showed Andrea and Anthony standing with each other in 2016 alongside the Pounce statue, baby bump and all, beside a 2019 photo of Andrea, Anthony and now 2-year-old Ari. The tweet went viral, accumulating more than 75,000 likes.
“There has been an influx of really supportive people and messages,” Scales said. “Other pregnant women have messaged me, saying, ‘I was going to drop out of school, but after seeing your pictures, I believe I can graduate, too.’ Getting that response has been an amazing feeling.”
With the experience she has collected at Georgia State and as an intern at WSB-TV, Scales hopes to land a job in corporate communications.
“To finally graduate is a huge relief. I’m ready to go to work, come home and be with my daughter,” she said. “We’re going to have a lot more time to enjoy each other.”
Photos by CreativeSoul Photography