3/11/2010
Bronx woman receives Grace Institute’s award
By DANIEL BEEKMAN

Many mothers who leave school or work to raise children vow that they'll go back to school, back to work. For those mothers, here's some inspiration.

Parkchester resident Luz Adorno did go back to school. Adorno will soon find work. And Adorno is not only a mother. She's a grandmother.

On Thursday, February 4, Adorno graduated from the Grace Institute, a Manhattan trade school that helps women re-enter the world world. She won the Grace Institute's annual Nora Maguire Scholarship Award for school spirit, named for a late alumnus.

"It was a challenge to bring schoolwork home, for someone my age," Adorno said. "But I took my [Grace Institute] classes seriously. I stayed up late to finish my schoolwork."

Adorno, born in Puerto Rico and raised on Hoe Avenue, graduated from James Monroe High School. Soon afterward, she married and had a daughter, then a son. Adorno worked part-time here and there, for a car insurance broker, at a cemetery, at her church on the Grand Concourse, but primarily stayed at home.

She thought she might return to work when her children had grown, but grandchildren persuaded Adorno to postpone those plans. Only when her daughter and granddaughter moved to New Jersey did Adorno seek freelance work downtown.

Then her husband retired and Adorno knew her time had come. But who would hire her, a fifty-some year old who hadn't worked full-time in more than a decade?

"I needed to upgrade my skills," she said.

Adorno sought out the Grace Institute on a tip from a friend. She wanted a solid return on her school investment.

"I had no money to throw away," she said.

Useful and tuition-free classes at the Grace Institute, founded by businessman/mayor/philanthropist William Russell Grace in 1897, sealed the deal.

"Our mission is to help women become economically independent," Grace Institute executive director Mary Mulvihill said.

Adorno rode the 6 IRT to the Grace Institute on E. 65th Street and Second Avenue five days a week. She took classes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for nearly five months. The Grace Institute enrolls some 300 women each year.

Adorno learned to write business letters, use computer programs and type faster. She learned how to draft a standout resume and how to charm her future boss.

"The teachers were great," Adorno said. "I never went to college. My Grace Institute classes felt like college."

Adorno enjoyed her classmates, women from different boroughs and of different ethnic backgrounds.

"We helped each other," she said.

Adorno was astonished when named an award winner on February 4. "I thought I had struggled," she said. "I thought everyone else had done great. The work seemed so easy for them."

Adorno hasn't landed a job yet, but is confident. She stops by the Grace Institute once a week for help; the non-profit has a top-notch reputation among employers, Adorno explained.

Mulvihill targets jobs with benefits; those jobs enable women to escape poverty, she said. Indeed, the Grace Institute boasts an 80 percent success rate.

Mulvihill has a message for Bronx women; some 20 percent of Grace Institute students hail from that borough.

"Head straight to the Grace Institute, ladies!" she said. "Because we have jobs."