By Kyle Hocking

As Carol Wang watches her pregnant daughter enter her North Side high school while dropping her off, she wonders if there was anything she could have done better as a parent in preventing Alexia from being a teenage mom.

"I had no idea she even liked anyone and if I did I wish she would have come to me to talk about it," Wang said.

Alexia is a sophomore and seven months pregnant. Her child is due sometime in June, leaving just enough time for her to finish out the school year.

Illinois ranks 18th among the states with the most teen pregnancies, according to National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Chicago leads among Illinois cities, accounting for more than half of all teen pregnancies.

Teen pregnancy has risen 3 percent in the past two years since its 14-year decline, according to the Center for Disease Control. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute in New York, roughly 40 percent of females in the United States become pregnant before they reach age 20. Half of these pregnant teens give birth each year, while around 45 percent have abortions.

Since the recent rise in teen pregnancy, Chicago Public Schools have made no major changes to its sexual education curriculum. But Jeffrey Wright, principal of King College Prep, believes the Chicago Public School Board is revamping the classes. Right now, sex-ed is taught in physical education health classes, as well as discussed in science classes.

Wright, who is passionate about this issue, thinks it is important to educate students, but also to let them make their own decisions. "It is important to alert teens about the risks and encourage them to avoid sex and if they cannot avoid it, then to perform it safely by using contraceptives available in our market," he said.

In Chicago, pregnant teens have two options - staying at their original high school or transferring to the Simpson Academy for Girls.

"The Simpson Academy is something I support, but I think we are more open in a society now to allow a student to stay in which ever high school they choose during their pregnancy, and there are students who can be successful in a school besides being pregnant," Wright said.

For those students that wish to stay at their original high school, there are available services. King College Prep has a team of nurses on staff if a pregnant teen needs immediate support. They also have a counseling staff made up of a psychologist and social worker for emotional support.

Alexia, who chose to stay at her high school, said she would have considered transferring if people weren't as accepting."I feel that my friends and other students at my school were very supportive of my situation, if they weren't I think it would be hard to stay here while I am pregnant."

At the Simpson Academy for Young Woman, education is specifically catered to young women who are currently pregnant or parenting. The fully accredited high school remains as the only school of its kind left in the city.

However, students cannot graduate from the academy, which teahes over 300 students; they return to their home school for graduation.

Ellyn Greenspahn, a guidance counselor at Lincoln Park High School said the Simpson Academy to be a great opportunity for expectant mothers to get neo-natal information and parenting skills while getting an education.

"They have the option to transfer into this school while pregnant, and the schools are designed to keep the teen on track for graduation," Greenspahn said.

As for Alexia, the excited mother-to-be believes that no matter what happens in her life, nothing will stop her from reaching her goals.

"Having a child is no reason to put a hold on my dreams of finishing high school or going to college, if anything it has motivated me even more to get where I want to go," Alexia said.