LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11)--Rufina Arce says she beat the odds.
"I got pregnant my sophomore year and gave birth my junior year," Arce said.
It's not at all what the Seneca High School student planned or the kind of news she wanted to break to her mother.
"When she found out, of course, she was disappointed because who wants to find out you have a teen who's pregnant? But she's been a big help to me and still is," Arce said.
She had the support of her family but feared the school would be another story.
"I would walk the hallways and people stared," she said.
Arce forced herself to look forward and opted to stay at Seneca rather than transfer to an alternative school for teenage moms.
"My priority was to still graduate and be there for my child," Arce said.
She gained the trust of school counselor Carlos Rullan, whom she credits a great deal of her success.
"He didn't give up on me."
"When I spoke with her, she was really committed to finish. As a support, I wanted to be there to help facilitate that," Rullan said.
Arce had missed a lost of the class becoming a new mother. So, she had to double up during her senior year, adding online courses to her class schedule all while raising a baby and working a job 4 days a week.
"It's not something we deal with every day so we had to make some concessions and adjust some things for her and luckily it's all worked out and it's all due to her. There's no shortcuts in this thing," Rullan said.
Even the most determined can get sidetracked. We asked Rullan the odds of a teen mom graduating from high school on time.
"They're not great," he said.
But Rufina made it happen.