Student Spotlight: Jesus Cerda

Jesus Cerda has always been an artist. As a child in the Dominican Republic, he made his own tracing paper by pouring cooking oil over regular paper and waiting for the oil to dry and turn the paper transparent. He cites Japanese anime and classic cartoons from the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s as his aesthetic inspirations, and he’s proud to have created what may be the first animated book bag with legs. At 26, Jesus is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art at Hunter College, but his path to college was bumpy. 

“Even though I applied for college and financial aid after high school, I wasn’t aware of how to do the process,” Jesus explains. “After graduating from Manhattan Bridges High School in 2012, I worked as a cashier in a supermarket for almost three years. Then, I moved to Florida and did temporary jobs.” After he returned to New York, Jesus had nowhere to live, and a stay in a shelter resulted in an interaction that led to his involvement with the criminal legal system. Jesus was spared incarceration, and his probation officer introduced him to the Youth Justice Network (YJN), which supports and advocates for young people in New York whose lives have intersected with the city’s jail system. The Petey Greene Program partners with YJN to provide tutoring and other academic supports to students like Jesus. 

At YJN, Jesus found a family and encouragement to go back to school. He was a member of the Arches program—a transformative group mentoring project for young people on probation. In almost-daily visits to the YJN office, Jesus connected with mentors, worked on his drawings, and hung out in a welcoming environment where food and support were readily available. Each young adult at YJN is paired with an advocate, and Jesus’ advocate, Jasmin Luciano-King, urged him to go back to school. Jesus enrolled at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) in the fall of 2019. 

Once there, YJN helped him connect to Project Impact, a program designed to meet the needs of BMCC students who have been impacted by the justice system. Project Impact staff helped him negotiate the transition to college and found him a work- study assignment so he would have a source of funds. After the pandemic hit, they helped him get a hotspot so he could continue with his classes remotely. Most importantly, they were a constant source of advice and encouragement for him. 

Jesus generally did well at BMCC until he took a physics class that was required for graduation. “The first time I took physics, it moved too fast and I had to drop out and pay $500. Luckily, YJN paid that fee. So the next time I enrolled, I asked for help right away.” Jesus was paired with a Petey Greene Program tutor, Michelle Bosché, a graduate student at Columbia University, and they met weekly to go over class material and work on homework. “Working with Michelle made me feel more confident. I kept my grades up, and I finished the course with an A-.”  Passing the physics course cleared the way for Jesus to get his associate’s degree and apply to a four-year program. 

“The first time I took physics, it moved too fast and I had to drop out....So the next time I enrolled, I asked for help right away. Working with Michelle made me feel more confident. I kept my grades up, and I finished the course with an A-.”

A second PGP volunteer, community member Andrew Kachel, who works as Director of the Andrea Rosen Gallery, helped Jesus navigate the application process, which is especially complex for the art and design programs that Jesus was applying for. Andrew helped Jesus identify the requirements for each of the five programs Jesus applied for, complete the application and put together portfolios for programs that required them. “I got into all the programs: School of Visual Arts, Fashion Institute of Technology, City Tech, Queens College, and Hunter College; but I went to Hunter because it’s free,” Jesus explains.

“Jesus has faced many challenges over the past three years—challenges that would have defeated many other people. But he has been incredibly dedicated, resilient, and hard working,” says John Gordon, Deputy Executive Director at YJN, who has known Jesus since 2019. “I don’t think I have ever worked with a student who has been as committed to his studies as Jesus.”

This semester, Jesus is working with PGP tutor Aaron Stagoff-Belfort, Program Associate and Coordinator with The Vera Institute of Justice, who is supporting him with the writing assignments for a religion and social justice course. “The PGP tutors and YJN staff have been there for me every step of the way,” Jesus says. “They encouraged me to go back to school and were there to provide help when I needed it.” 

“The PGP tutors and YJN staff have been there for me every step of the way,” Jesus says. “They encouraged me to go back to school and were there to provide help when I needed it.”

As a child in the Dominican Republic, Jesus Cerda loved to draw waterfalls with a set of watercolors that his mother got for him. When he moved to the U.S. to live with his father at age 14, he lost touch with his love of drawing for some time. Picking up his pencil again as a young adult, Jesus knew he wanted to create comics, but he didn’t know how to transform his talent and interest into a professional path. Through YJN, Project Impact, and the PGP, Jesus found the network of support and encouragement that every young person needs in order to grow and thrive.