Senior Spotlight: Ivoryonica Ysquierdo
This week’s Senior Spotlight is Ivoryonica “Ivory” Ysquierdo, a senior Interdisciplinary Studies major graduating this May. She is originally from Houston, Texas. On campus, she has served as both a Life Group Leader and a Life Group Captain. After graduating she will be working as the Children’s Director at her church in Virginia Beach while finishing up her student teaching to find a job as a teacher.
Ivory at Oceanfront, Virginia Beach, V.A., Mar. 2017. (Elizabeth Fiore)
These few years at college are a huge time of development and growth, so I asked her what was something she learned from her time here at Regent. “I’ve learned the importance of community. Before coming here, I didn’t realize how important it is to live in community and how I do need my brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s so much more than just friendships – it’s being a body and building each other up. And I think that is something I can carry into my career, understanding that I will always need people and that I’m needed in the body itself.”
While being a teacher is her ultimate goal, she has a big dream within a dream. “I’d love to teach in war-torn areas. I’d love to work in a school that is built especially for children who are in war-torn zones.”
Ivory has many unique qualities, but there is one fact that many people don’t know about her. “I love big families, and I come from a big family! I have nine brothers and sisters and I am number seven in the line. Three younger, six older. There are ten of us. I love big families and I hope someday to have twenty kids! No, I’m just kidding.”
Ivory (center) with her Captain group, Virginia Beach, V.A., Aug. 2017.
She gave a bubbly laugh. It was clear that she had a huge heart for children, and that would be shown through her own family, although maybe not twenty kids worth.
Lastly, I asked whether she had any advice for the younger generations at Regent. “Don’t rush the seasons the Lord has you in. Just embrace them. Take advantage of every season and allow the Lord to teach you.”
“Allow yourself to be uncomfortable. Whether it be raising your hand in class more if you are really shy or going up to someone you don’t know and making a new friend. All of those little uncomfortable positions really help you grow. They are a little task but it does a lot.”
Ivory is a bubbly, joyful woman, whose heart shows the Father’s love and is pursuing it fervently. She has been a blessing and a joy to have on this campus, and has made an impact in more ways than one.
Danielle Crowley is a Staff Writer for The Daily Runner.
