MILWAUKEE — Aubrey Finch is finishing up his last tests to earn his GED.
“I basically just wanted to come back and get my diploma because in 2020 I dropped out of school due to some problems that I had,” he says.
Now Aubrey is 19 and trying to build a brighter future. He says he couldn’t have done any of it without his teacher, Mercedez Buttz.
“Just always encouraging me, telling me that I can do it,” Aubrey says. “Oftentimes, I doubt myself and say ‘aw, I feel like I can’t get this math problem down.’ She’ll be like ‘no, you’ve got to try!’ You can’t just doubt yourself from the beginning.”
You might recognize Mercedez – she accepted our Positively Milwaukee Legacy Award in 2022 on behalf of her grandmother Joyce.
“My grandmother was a person who loved people,” Mercedez says.
Joyce battled addiction most of her life – but spent the last 14 years before she died clean and sober.
“She was a person who was always involved, whether it was in the church, whether it was in the community, my grandmother was always the kind of person who was always around and loving,” Mercedez says.
Mercedez opened Joyce’s House to help other women get sober, and that included helping them finish their high school educations. But she soon opened that service up to anyone in the community.
“In two and a half years, we’ve administered more than 400 exams,” she says. “And we were operating that off of only two computers!”
Mercedez needed more space! So when she found a location on North and 56th, she had to jump on it.
Joyce’s House Education Center opened in the summer of 2023 with ten testing stations. And Mercedez's goal is simple.
“Having a higher quality of life,” she says. “Once you teach a person to read, they’ll be reading for the rest of their life.”
“I think it’ll give me more options to just spread my wings a little further,” Aubrey adds.
And guess what? He did pass his tests and is thinking about a career in the culinary arts.
“I’m thinking about going to UW-M,” he says.
If you’re looking to finish your GED or any other licensing exam, Mercedez and Joyce’s House are happy to help. Just follow this link: https://joyceshousemke.org/
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