This granny was lastly able to be a grad.
A New Hampshire grandmother barred from graduating faculty greater than 60 years in the past as a result of she bought pregnant lastly clinched her diploma this graduation season.
Joan Alexander, 88, obtained the long-overdue honor final month from the College of Maine and accomplished her dream of getting a level in training after one in all her daughters, Tracy, reached out to the college earlier this 12 months.
“I didn’t realize that it would mean so much to me, but I now feel that a hole in my heart has been healed,” a grateful Alexander mentioned in a press launch issued by the college.
She possible is the oldest graduate within the faculty’s historical past, the college mentioned.
She ought to have obtained her diploma in 1959, however on the time she wasn’t allowed to pupil educate – a requirement for commencement – as a result of she was pregnant along with her and her husband’s first of 4 daughters.
However Affiliate Dean for the Faculty of Training and Human Improvement Justin Dimmel and different officers decided this 12 months that when Alexander labored as a full-time aide for a preschool program within the early Eighties, that was sufficient to fulfill the mandate.
Dimmel mentioned he was moved by Alexander’s story and mentioned her “commitment to completing her undergraduate education was inspiring to me, my colleagues and the graduating class of 2025.”
Whereas Alexander couldn’t make the journey to stroll throughout the stage on the graduation ceremony on Could 11, Tracy and granddaughter Isabel Beck attended as an alternative. Throughout the celebration, faculty president Joan Ferrini-Mundy gave Alexander a shoutout.
“It would have been wonderful for my mother to be able to attend commencement in person, but being there with my own daughter was very moving for me,” Tracy mentioned.
“Everyone I met was so excited to have been able to help make this happen. I really felt that my mother was seen and recognized.”
The octogenarian graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Training.
Alexander dutifully raised her 4 daughters, typically by herself for months at a time as a result of her husband was a member of the Coast Guard.
The couple now lives in New Hampshire with one in all their daughters, the place Alexander has volunteered for her church, library and even a neighborhood elementary faculty at instances.
“My parents did not complete college, so this was important to me,” the grandmother mentioned within the faculty press launch.
“My husband and four daughters have their college degrees, so I was the only one amongst my husband and daughters who had not received a college degree. It gives me a sense of closure and accomplishment.”
