1. Danielle C. Fox
23 February 2015
Intro to Journalism
One Flew out of the Accounting Class
[Tampa, Fla.] Every so often in the MUMA College of Business you can see a woman
marching into the building with her toddler in tow, a stark contrast to the students
keeping to themselves near power outlets to power their laptops.
Chelsea Fritts, a mother of two, often finds herself having to take her daughter to
class when her regular daycare falls through. Despite the set backs, Fritts maintains
a flawless attendance record in all of her classes, opting to bring her daughter with
the permission of her professors.
“I get away with a lot with my oldest,” says Fritts, “since she is regular day school I
can always count on them to be there for her. I’m not so lucky with my youngest,
Reese.”
The University of South Florida provides regular childcare and pre-schooling for
students, faculty, and staff that, like most daycares, come with a certain level of
payment. Fritts states this as the reason that she does not use on-campus childcare.
“The daycare that my youngest normally goes to is close to home and very
inexpensive. Every so often we get a call or notice ahead of time saying that they will

2. be closed that day and I get time to plan ahead for a sitter. It’s the days when we get
no notice that I am forced to bring her to class.”
With any child, there’s always the worry that he or she may become fussy or need
special attention that could be a distraction to more than just the parent or guardian
taking care of them. This is the reason most professors do not allow children in their
classrooms, at the risk it could disrupt the learning environment. “I’m very lucky
that I have profs that are understanding, most know what I’m going through and are
very accommodating,” says Fritts.
Many of Chelsea’s classmates look forward to the days that she brings her daughter.
Kaitlin Mordue, a fellow classmate, shared how much she enjoys class when Chelsea
brings her daughter into class. “She’s so cute,” says Mordue, “She’ll draw you
pictures during class but is very polite and waits until class is over to give them to
you. I probably have, like, twenty at this point.”
According to Mordue and Fritts, most every student seems to have no problem with
her daughter being in class. “I can only recall one time that someone seemed to get
annoyed,” recounts Mordue. “Reese kept trying to get her mom’s attention and
another student seemed to be shooting some daggers in her direction, but they
didn’t say anything so I guess they weren’t too mad.”
Despite the strangeness of seeing Chelsea walking through the halls with her
daughter, parenthood among students is no longer an uncommon thing. The

3. Institute for Women’s Policy Research reports that 26% of college students are
parents. This is partially due to the large population of students over 25 who have
started a family coming back to get an education.
For students like Chelsea, parenthood is just another challenge in the already
complicated life of a student. Chelsea, however, doesn’t look at it like a burden or
challenge. For Chelsea, it’s just part of motherhood.
“I’ll never look at having to bring Reese to class as a burden. For me, it’s just a bonus;
I get to go to class and study things that interested me with my daughter whom I
love, it really doesn’t get much better than that.”