CHICKASHA — Chickasha teens are learning far more than reading, writing, and arithmetic these days.

It seems that some high school students are involved in more “down-to-earth” extra curricular activities like booze, drugs, and sex.

“There’s an awful lot going on that people don’t realize,” said Chickasha High School senior Emily Summars, 17. “You hear crazy stuff at the high school.”

According to Summars, students come to class on Monday mornings boasting about how they and their friends behaved over the weekend.

“Every Monday you hear about kids who have gotten drunk and done the drugs,” said Summars. “And you hear about people who have gotten so drunk that they got into fights and ended up in the hospital.”

Former Chickasha High School student Courtney Sherwood, 17, of Rush Springs, concurs, saying that there was a great deal of peer pressure when she was in high school.

“I used to go to parties where older people were buying teens drinks,” said Sherwood. “There was a lot of peer pressure to drink, do drugs, and to have sex. I fell for all three of them.”

As a result, Sherwood got pregnant at 15 and became a single parent at 16.

“Everybody drinks. I don’t know any kid up there [Chickasha] who doesn’t or hasn’t,” said Sherwood. “Whether you’re from the best family or the worst family, you’re gonna do it.”

Summars is also aware of these parties, and, although she does not drink or do drugs, she knows teens that do.

“College students have parties and they don’t know high school students are there. They can’t tell them from college kids, and the high school kids lie about their ages,” said Summars. “I never partake, but I hear about it all the time. But, you also hear about the ones who stay sober and watch out for their friends - very rarely, but you do hear about them. They act like guardian angels.”

One consequence of this kind of behavior is that teenage girls are getting pregnant. When Sherwood enrolled in high school at Rush Springs, she felt out of place, because only one other girl was pregnant, and she was not showing yet.

“In Chickasha, there were lots of pregnant girls and girls with kids at the Academy, and at Chickasha High School,” said Sherwood. “I have four teenage friends who are pregnant right now.”

“I know of two girls at school who are pregnant, one of them is my friend,” said Summars. “They get pregnant and start showing at five to seven months, then they usually go to the Academy because it has smaller classes and a totally different atmosphere than the high school.”

The Academy the girls mention is the Quality Academy, which is affiliated with Chickasha High School.

“The Academy is set up for kids with academic deficiencies and health problems. We consider pregnancy a health issue,” said Liz Ketchum, Quality Academy principal. “The Academy is an alternative for them; they are not required to come over. They are allowed to stay at the high school if they want to. There are still girls at the high school who are going to be teen parents.”

Students must go through an application process to enter the Academy. Next, the student and his or her parents must meet with school officials at an Intake Meeting where the student tells why he or she wishes to attend the Academy. Then a committee makes the final decision about whether a student is allowed to enroll.

“We have a great atmosphere here,” said Ketchum. “All the kids who are here want to achieve, so we have very few disciplinary issues.”

Students who attend the Academy may return to Chickasha High School for graduation, or they may graduate from the Academy. Either way, they receive a high school diploma.

According to Chickasha High School Principal, Beth Reigh Edwards, there are some pregnant students at the high school, but she has no statistics about the actual number.

“It’s a privacy issue,” said Edwards.