Even though teen pregnancy rates are declining, teen pregnancy remains a complex and problematic phenomenon in our culture. The problem addressed by this study was that although the number of births to teen mothers is decreasing, less than 50% of teen mothers are completing high school. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of women in Alabama who were teen mothers and graduated high school. The theoretical framework that guided this study was Bandura's social cognitive theory (SCT) and Duckworth's grit theory. The research questions answered for this study were, how do teen mothers characterize their lived experiences in relation to the obstacles they encountered that influenced their ability to complete high school, and how do teen mothers describe their lived experiences regarding internal and external factors that motivated them to complete high school? Participants were recruited for this study using a recruitment social media post on Facebook and LinkedIn. Data collection included an online survey and 1.1 Zoom interview. The data analysis process included manually coding each participant's interview transcript. A thematic analysis was also conducted, which included identifying emergent themes from the data. The study's findings identified the following overarching themes: barriers impacting teen mothers, internal factors influencing academic success, external factors influencing academic success, and educational attainment. The implications of these findings support the importance of providing educational support services that better support the unique needs of teen mothers. This study contributes to the existing literature and practice by demonstrating that academic success is possible for teen mothers. It supports the importance of reinforcing the long-term value of educational attainment to help teen mothers complete high school and improve high school graduation rates overall. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]