BY TERI R. WILLIAMS PHOTOS BY DAPHNE WALKER
CHANGING LIVES WITH
EDUCATION
SHE DIDN'T ENVISION BEING AN EDUCATOR, BUT NOW, AS ACADEMIC EDUCATION
PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR THE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, JENNIFER IRVIN
HAS REALIZED HOW TRULY GREAT AND REWARDING THE GIFT OF EDUCATION CAN BE.
He was a prisoner at Wheeler Correctional
Hometown Living At Its Best 109
Institute and had a special education
background on a fourth-grade level. The
only reason he’d been invited to his fellow inmate’s
graduation ceremony was because the guy had no family
attending in which case he was permitted to invite
another inmate. The prisoner certainly had nothing
better to do. To tell the truth, it was not the idea of
getting his own GED, but the free pizza after his friend’s
ceremony that convinced him to enroll in the classes for
himself. He never expected to actually succeed.
“He told us, ‘I just didn't know that I could be
anything more than a dumb kid,’” said Jennifer Irvin,
who stepped into a new position on April 1, 2018, as
Georgia Department of Corrections Academic Education
Program Director.
Six months later, the inmate not only had his
GED but was working as a teaching assistant for other
inmates. He was also selected for the Auburn Dog
Program, an intense dog training program sponsored by
Auburn University.
After serving his time, the man was released. “That’s
been three years ago,” said Jennifer, “and he’s kept a job
and has not returned to prison. He told us, ‘Education
has made me a completely different person.’”
In Governor Nathan Deal’s 2015 Inaugural Address
on January 12th entitled, “A new term, a new vision, a
new mandate,” he stated:
Approximately 70 percent of Georgia's inmates
don't have a high school diploma. If their lack
of an education is not addressed during their
incarceration, when they re-enter society they’ll
have a felony on their record but no job skills on
their résumé. I’m here to tell you, an ex-con with no
hope of gainful employment is a danger to us all.
… Our prisons have always been schools. In the
past, the inmates have learned how to become
better criminals. Now they are taking steps to
earn diplomas and gain job skills that will lead to
employment after they serve their sentences.
Jennifer never imagined herself working to fulfill the
Governor’s mandate for the Georgia prison system.
In fact, she never even planned to pursue a career in
education. Perhaps all the many hours she spent in
her childhood pretending to teach her dolls to read
and write should have been a clue. And perhaps it was
obvious to her third grade teacher, Cindy Jones, when
her young student asked for all the extra worksheets
for her imaginary “classroom.” Even so, Jennifer felt
certain, “Nobody actually wanted to be a teacher,”
simply because it wasn’t something many of the teachers
she’d known portrayed as a career they enjoyed. And
whatever she chose as a career, she wanted to enjoy it.
Jennifer graduated from Toombs County
High School in 1997 and earned her degree in
communications from Brewton-Parker College (BPC).
She worked for Channel 46, a local TV station during
most of her college years where she did “some of it all–
from news reporting to producing and directing.”
Many of the news stories she covered were schoolrelated.
“I loved it because I enjoyed being with the
kids and covering whatever they were doing,” said
Jennifer. After college, she took the position as the
Executive Director of the Ohoopee Regional Council for
the Arts (ORCA). Her job was to develop and promote
the arts for both adults and children in the Toombs-
Montgomery area. But to Jennifer, it was more than a
job: It was a mission to change the lives of the children
in her community. “We brought in some great theater
companies to perform in all the elementary schools in
the area. Our kids got the chance to see some awesome
plays they might not ever have had the opportunity to
see.”
Even then, Jennifer did not realize that her career
path was always headed in one particular direction.