Grace Outreach

Ivy De Jesus Student Profile by Elisabeth Anderson

Ivy De Jesus: “I got exactly what I needed.”

On a warm May morning, Ivy De Jesus is standing outside Grace Outreach, taking in the sunshine with a smile. The light reflects off her cafe-au-lait skin and dark hair, which is secured in a playful ponytail atop her head. She’s wearing a hot pink t-shirt and jeans, her look accessorized with gold hoop earrings and multicolored sneakers.

Passersby might think Ivy’s a teenager. But she’s 37.

Ivy’s youthful appearance suggests that time has, in some ways, stood still for her for the past 20 years. She grew up by getting married, having kids, and working on and off, but until this spring she still didn’t have her GED.

Ivy grew up in Co-op City in the Bronx with her Puerto Rican parents and brother. While her family’s financial situation was manageable, Ivy said her parents’ relationship was sometimes rocky. “It was kind of rough,” Ivy explained. “We had everything we wanted but my dad was really strict. There was a little abuse between him and my mom.”

It was her father’s strictness that took Ivy down a path that ultimately led her astray at school. Because she was to come home straight after dismissal, Ivy said, “I did my hanging out during school time. Which led me to having to drop out.”

By age 16, Ivy was cutting class frequently. She finished 10th grade and didn’t return for 11th.

Ivy’s mom signed her up for GED classes after that. She went for three years, taking classes in the morning and working in the school’s office in the afternoon. She took the GED test for the first time at 18 and failed. At the time, GED scores were reported differently and so Ivy had no sense of what sections, if any, she passed.

At 22 she was a new mom to a son, Donovan, whose father is a former boyfriend. She took the GED test again that year at Hostos Community College, and again she failed without knowing the details of why.

“My parents held the test score from me,” Ivy said. “They didn’t want me to get discouraged.”

It look Ivy’s parents a full week to share the bad news with their daughter. Their disappointment was deep; Ivy’s mom only went to school up until the 6th grade, and her dad dropped out of school when his first wife became pregnant. They wanted a better life for their daughter, and hoped she’d find success like their son, Ivy’s brother, did. He’s been in the U.S. Air Force for 11 years.

Ivy kept the dream of a GED in the back of her mind, but life got in the way. She met her husband Jason in 2000 and moved to Throggs Neck. And in 2005, as Donovan was getting bigger, Ivy and Jason had a girl, Jalah, now 6.
Ivy worked whenever she could to support her growing family. Over the years she had jobs at a nonprofit, a management company, and a jewelry business. Four years ago, she started as an accounts payable clerk at a ticket broker company in Manhattan. She was let go just shy of her one year anniversary there.

She knew the time had come to get her GED, in the hopes of securing a good new job. She sat for the test a third time, this time at Lehman College. Thanks to an enhanced score reporting system, Ivy learned that she had passed every section but math.

It was an employee at the office from which Ivy was receiving temporary public benefits who recommended she call Grace Outreach. Ivy took a math placement test and learned that GO could put her in a math bootcamp. From January 2011 until early April, Ivy took math classes all day long. She says she appreciates GO’s willingness to give her intensive preparation in the one section she had yet to pass. “I got exactly what I needed,” she said.

For Ivy, the fourth time was a charm. She passed the GED math section in April, and earned her GED. “I wasn’t expecting the score that I got,” Ivy said. “410 is just passed. I got 480.”

Her family is proud as can be. “My dad’s been on my case for 15 years for me to come back to school, and I finally did. Oh my God, my father is like so proud of me.”

“My son, he gave me a big hug,” Ivy continued. “He said ‘mom, you finally did it, you never gave up.’”

On June 23, Ivy’s husband and father will watch as she joins 140 other Grace Outreach GED earners in a graduation ceremony. “I can’t wait,” she said. “Finally I get to say I graduated from somewhere!”

Making the day all the more special, Ivy’s daughter Jalah graduates Kindergarten the same day. “We’re going out for dinner after,” Ivy said. “We’re making it something for the both of us.”

Ivy already has her eyes on a new goal, building her career. She’s working with the GO team as she looks for a job doing administrative work in a hospital. She wants to build a skill set she can take with her if she relocates; she’d like to move to Virginia, where her husband has family, or South Carolina, where her brother is stationed. After that, she aspires to go to college to study adolescent psychology.

She sees her GED as an important step in securing the future she wants for her family. “So I know my kids are going to be okay,” Ivy said. “I’m going to be okay.”