28-Year-Old Mom of 6 Earns Diploma Over a Decade After She Was Forced to Drop Out of School

Dafani Peralta.Photo: Amy Newman/NorthJersey.com via USA Today Network

A mom of six was forced to drop out of high school after getting pregnant with her first child — but now she’s proving it’s better late than never as she earns her GED 12 years later.

Dafani Peralta, 28, toldGood Morning Americathat earning her diploma from Paterson Adult & Continuing Education (P.A.C.E.) in New Jersey not only allowed her to achieve a longtime personal goal, but also set an example for her six children.

“I want them to see what their minds can do,” she told the outlet of her kids, who are now 12, 10, 8, 7, 5 and 4. “I don’t have to just say to go to school and graduate, I’m doing it.”

“We have struggled so much as a family,” Peralta added. “Now, we have opportunity, but it took us a long [time].”

Peralta first dropped out of high school 12 years ago after becoming pregnant with her first child, daughter Viarnneyra, according toGMA.

“I saw that my mom didn’t even care about my education. She was really mad at me because I was pregnant,” Peralta explained to the outlet. “It was really hard for me because I had my friends there and I wanted a better future for my daughter.”

Dafani Peralta with her children.Amy Newman-NorthJersey.com via Imagn Content Services, LLC

After giving birth to Viarnneyra at 15, Peralta hoped to return to school, but was unable to do so because of struggles related to providing for her daughter,GMAreported.

At the time, the pair lived between family members' homes as Peralta searched for a job. The task, as Peralta disclosed to the outlet, was far from easy because she lacked daycare for Viarnneyra.

Over the years, the Paterson-based mom attempted to return to school multiple times, according toGMA. However, because she had five more children during that time, including one who was diagnosed with autism, Peralta ran into several care and transportation challenges.

While pregnant with her third child, had to wait “45 minutes to an hour in snow and rain” for the bus to school, which was “too difficult” for her at that time, Peralta toldGMA.

Dafani Peralta with her son.Amy Newman/USA Today Network/Sipa

“It was too much and sometimes I didn’t have money for the bus,” she explained to the outlet.

“There were a lot of situations going on and I had to give up something and I gave up my education to focus on my kids,” she recalled. “Every time I’d go to get a job, they always ask for a high school diploma and I didn’t have it.”

“I couldn’t give [my kids] simple things like help[ing] them with their math or their homework because I don’t understand. It was really frustrating,” she added. “I really love my kids and enjoy being with them at home, but I really felt that I wanted [an education] to go forward.”

It wasn’t until this past summer, amid the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic, that Peralta realized she could take classes virtually and set out to get her high school diploma, according toGMA.

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While her sister-in-law watched her kids, Peralta took online classes through P.A.C.E.’s Spanish High School Equivalency (S-HSE) program,GMAreported.

“I thought this is the time and I’m not going to quit this time,” Peralta told the outlet. “I took it seriously because I thought this was the opportunity of my life. I thought I’m not going to take it for granted. Now that my sister-in-law was there, I had no excuses.”

According toGMA, the course combines three months of content into one month, which Peralta said made for an “intensive” experience. Despite its difficulty, Peralta immediately made an impression on her teachers, the outlet reported.

“The more work I gave her, the more effort she put into it. She really put her mind and her heart into what she was doing,” Vilma Carranza, a teacher in the S-HSE program, recalled toGMA. “The program is very rigorous. It’s not a simple, easy class to pass. And she was superb.”

“She said, ‘I’d go to your room and you were studying. It was nighttime and you were still studying,'” Peralta recalled. “‘I saw the hard work and now we have to celebrate it.'”

Vranneyra toldNorthJersey.com, “I was really happy for her.”

In July, Peralta officially became one of nine students (out of an original class of 20) to earn her GED from the New Jersey Department of Education and graduate from P.A.C.E., according toGMA.

Today, she is looking into taking online classes at Berkeley College with hopes of opening a beauty shop one day, per NorthJersey.com. Meanwhile, Peralta’s husband, who works as an electrician, is planning to also earn his high school degree at P.A.C.E.,GMAreported.

“Now I have so many doors open,” Peralta told NorthJersey.com. “I have to find out which one I want to open first.”

source: people.com