Shared Journeys Charter High School in West Allis supports pregnant and parenting teens. The school operates under the belief that all students must be prepared to positively parent their children and achieve post-secondary training in a chosen career to create a positive future for themselves and their families.
Shared Journeys students, parents, community, and staff work together to provide the best learning environment based on each individual student’s needs. This helps to ensure academic and overall personal success. Students are educated both in parenting and in academics with potential coursework including: Child Development and Applied Parenting, Career Investigations and Social Aspects of Society, Literacy Investigations, and Compass Learning for online general studies.
Aurora West Allis Medical Center has partnered with Shared Journeys since it opened in September 2012. It continues to participate in the Healthy Lifestyles Teen Pregnancy Committee, serve on the Shared Journey’s Charter School governance board, provide a dedicated facility for the school, and contribute childbirth and parenting classes to the curriculum.
In 2020, nine students were enrolled in Shared Journeys Charter School each quarter on average. Six babies were born to enrolled students, all of which were born full-term. Of those six babies born, five parents successfully initiated breast feeding. Additionally, seven students graduated and six of those graduates enrolled in post-secondary education or job training programs.