#i2amru (I, Too, Am Reinhardt) Volume 1 Number 1 | Page 22

“She knew that God
would have other
plans for her....”

As she started to grow up in a culture that
was strange to her, she also began to notice
that she was not the same as the rest of her
peers. In high school, while everyone else
was talking about getting their driver’s license and being accepted to college, Ivonne
wondered why she could not get her driver's
license? The answer was that, given the fact
that Ivonne came here without a visa and did
not having any sort of legal papers, she was
not entitled to the privileges that many of her
other classmates had.
She decided that this would not matter to her.
With her head held up high, she kept moving
on with her life. She knew that God would
have other plans for her, plans that were going
to shape her into who she had to become.
Being an undocumented immigrant did not
stop her from what she wanted to be in life.
At first, like many other students who were in
the same place as she was, she became frustrated and sad because of not knowing what
her future was going to be like.
“Will I be able to attend college?” she wondered.
One thing she knew for sure was that she
was not alone; her mother always told her to
believe and know that God would make it
happen.

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Well, certainly, her mom was right. Ivonne was
accepted into Reinhardt University with a full
scholarship provided by the Goizueta Foundation.
Not only that, but things were going to make a full
turn in her life: Obama initiated a new immigration policy in 2012 that allowed for students that
were not born in the U.S. to have a driver’s license
and social security card, so that they could drive
and have a proper job with a legal work permit.
Called DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals), this new policy helped many students
like Ivonne to keep going and not give up.
At first, Ivonne wanted to become a dentist, but
she soon realized that her calling was something
else entirely. The moment she started taking
religion classes at Reinhardt, she knew she had to
change her major. Of course, this was not an easy
thing to do, but one person that was there for her
was her fiancé, Ivan Perez.
“She went through a growing process when she
decided to change her major,” Ivan remembered.
“She went from biology to interdisciplinary studies. Believe me, this was not a decision she made
overnight. We talked about it, and she thought
about it for an entire semester. When she told me
that she changed her career path, I knew she was
happy and that that was what she wanted to do,”
Ivan stated.

“In her journey,
she will touch the
hearts of many
people.”
The decision to take religion classes led her to meet
her mentor, the Rev. Dr. Aquiles Martinez. Dr. Martinez introduced her to a center called “Mi Familia”
where she began to help the community by teaching
GED and ESOL classes. This summer, they will open
a program for women who have gone through things
such as violent relationships and discrimination. The
only goal of this program, Mujeres en Poder, is to
help these women know that they are not alone, and
to help them keep going in life.

As she continues to grow up, Ivonne will find many
more obstacles that might impede her from conquering her dreams, but that will not stop Ivonne Perez. She
will keep going on, like she has done so far, until she
accomplishes everything in life. In her journey, she will
touch the hearts of many people.

Speaking of Ivonne, Dr. Martinez says, “She conveys
hope, simplicity, faith and willingness to learn and
grow. She is someone you could truly trust on, someone who could be an outstanding friend to anyone.”
Anyone who has met Ivonne can see the compassion she has towards others and her love of learning.
Being from a different culture and not being able to
have the same privileges as her peers has made her
appreciate everything she has even more. She also
wishes more people were willing to learn more about
her culture and to not stereotype so easily.
When asked what stereotypes she has heard and seen
about Mexican people, she responded that some
people believed that Mexican girls get pregnant in
high school or that they drop out. She wants them to
know that Mexican girls are not at all how people say
they are; some girls, like Ivonne, are girls that want to
succeed in life and will not let anyone nor anything
stop that.

(Photos courtesy of Ivonne Perez)
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