High School Senior Fakes Pregnancy For Project

Wednesday morning, Gaby Rodriguez announced during an all-school assembly that they were all, both students and teachers, unknowingly part of her social experiment "Stereotypes, rumors and statistics."  For 6 and a half months, Gaby pretended to be pregnant.  Only a few people were in on her plans; her mother, boyfriend, principal and best friend.  Everyone else, including all other students, teachers, Gaby's brothers and sisters and her boyfriend's family believed she was pregnant.

In front of her entire school, Gaby said,

"Many things were said about me. Many things traveled all the way back to me."

Gabby then asked some teachers and students to stand up and read aloud a quote that someone there had said about Gabby when she was "pregnant".  Her best friend read card #3 saying,

"Her attitude is changing, and it might be because of the baby or she was always this annoying and I never realized it."

As more cards were read, the student body got quieter and quieter, until Gaby stunned everyone by taking off her fake pregnant stomach and saying,

"I'm fighting against those stereotypes and rumors because the reality is I'm not pregnant."

Following the reveal was a common "Whaaaaaaat?!" from the audience, following by applause.  At the end of her presentation, and following a Q & A session, Gaby received a standing ovation from her fellow students, the first standing ovation teachers had seen in years.

Gabby got the idea two years ago during a biology class and met with childbirth teachers at the local hospital to work out the finer details of her plan.  During her research, Gaby found that Hispanic teens are at a higher teen pregnancy rate than white teens, something that hit Gaby close to home as 85% of her fellow students at Toppenish High School are Hispanic.

Gaby still needs to finalize her report and will present her findings to a board of community members next month.

via The Yakima Herald