On Friday during sixth hour, the theater was packed with kids. Some had parent permission to be there, while others didn’t.

They were waiting excitedly to see Catelynn and Tyler of MTV’s shows “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom.” The duo was visiting Lafayette to talk about their experiences outside of the television shows, including their daughter Carly, and also update everybody about how they were doing.

The assembly was introduced by Dawn Baker of Bethanny Christian Services Adoption Agency, who counseled Catelynn and Tyler on the show. She gave a brief background on adoption and how it has changed over time.

Afterwards, clips from the very first season of “16 and Pregnant” were shown, featuring Catelynn and Tyler. Parts shown included when the teens met Carly’s adoptive parents, Brandon and Teresa for the first time, and a rather touching reunion with their daughter a year after she was born.

A few minutes later, Tyler and Catelynn entered, causing the students to erupt with cheers and applause.

Sitting in chairs with microphones, the pair started off by talking about their backgrounds – not very pleasant ones, it seems.

“My grandma was a teen mom, my dad was a teen dad before he had me, my mom was a teen mom, and I ended up being a teen mom—a statistic all the way,” Catelynn said.

They met each other in seventh grade, and hit it off right away. But evberything changed when Catelynn found out she was pregnant, and Tyler found out he would be a teenage father.

“He was the whitest Mexican I’ve ever seen in my life,” Catelynn joked about Tyler’s reaction to the pregnancy, and the audience laughed.

Tyler and Catelynn presently see their daughter about one to two times a year, and their faces lit up as they talked about their daughter.

Catelynn remembered her last phone call with Carly, saying, “She’s like this little person, she just talks to you with all these big words… I was on the phone with her and I was like, ‘Hi Carly, how are you?’ and she said, ‘Very well, thanks.’”

Tyler also has a very close relationship with Carly, playing with her a lot.

“I taught her the word ‘cool,’” he laughed. 

Catelynn and Tyler promised to graduate high school and college, a promise they intend to keep. They graduated high school, and are currently attending college. They both want to go into social work; Catelynn would like to focus on helping people with adoption troubles, and Tyler would like to be a youth counselor.  

In the meantime, they have bought their first house together, and the adoptive parents adopted a second child – Carly now has a little brother.

Catelynn then gave advice for all the teenagers in the audience, and pregnant mothers too: “…Look at all of your options and find out which best fits you, but also what best fits your child, and what’s going to help your child with what it deserves… look at your situation and really figure out what is the best for you and your child.”

At the end, the duo surprised the audience by announcing that they would be getting married next year on July 13.

On what inspired her and Tyler to go around to schools and tell their story, Catelynn said, “I think what just inspired us… is our experience in itself, because when we first started looking into adoption, we didn’t know anything about adoption… I want to educate people, as long as I can save a woman, or help a woman with the right decision if she’s having a hard time… I’m just really trying to educate people about adoption.”