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Teacher sits in car with former student’s baby so new mom can attend job fair

Posted at 9:06 PM, Aug 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-24 23:06:44-04

CHICAGO – Chicago teacher LaShonda Carter always told her students she’d be there for them if they needed her.

And she didn’t disappoint when one of them reached out, three years after she had been in Carter’s class.

Carter was having trouble sleeping one night last week and was browsing through Facebook when she started chatting online with Larresha Plummer, 18.

Plummer told Carter about some rough times she had being going through, and mentioned that she wanted to attend a job fair on Thursday, but had no idea how to get there.

Plummer had just had a baby, and she knew that taking her 3-week-old baby on public transit was a little risky for the infant’s health.

“There was no way I would have let her take a baby in a bus, I told her right away that I would pick her up in the morning,” Carter told CNN.

Carter picked them up hours later, and took Plummer to the job fair. She also stayed in the car with her student’s baby while Plummer went to apply for jobs.

When Plummer was done, Carter took her to apply forWomen, Infants, and Children (WIC), a program for mothers in need to obtain nutrition education and grants.

CNN reached out to Plummer and is waiting to hear back.

Carter shared the special moment onFacebook and asked “her village” to help Plummer and the baby in any way possible.

“Sometimes as a teacher, our jobs go beyond the classroom… she’s a young teenage mom, and she needs some help,” Carter said on her post. “I’m gonna do what I can, as much as I can as an educator, but know I can’t do it all by myself.”

Carter first met Plummer when she was 15 years old, while she was teaching at Harper High School.

The two shared a special bond and remained friends, even after Carter took a teaching position at another local school.

“We always talk, even though I left Harper, I still keep in contact with all of my students,” Carter said.

Carter’s main wish is for Plummer to know that she can still be successful even though she’s a teenage mother, and that being a teenage mother does not equal failure.

She also hopes that her good deedhelps put her city in a better light.

“Because of the murder rate in Chicago, we have such a bad reputation, but we can’t be afraid to help others,” Carter said. “I believe every day, we get the opportunity to be someone’s miracle.”

As for Plummer, according to her former teacher, she now has a job and is planning to attend college this fall.