“Just learn everything you can every day,” she said. “I was afraid to try college. So I say, ‘try things.’ If you fail, try it again … but just keep trying.”
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When a Florida woman received her master’s degree at the age of 89, she demonstrated that learning never stops.
From Southern New Hampshire University, great-grandmother Joan Donovan earned a graduate degree in English and creative writing online.
Just 16 years old when she finished high school, the military spouse and breast cancer survivor was unable to continue her education.
“When I graduated from high school, I was told there was no money in the family to send me to college,” the octogenarian told SNHU.
She made the decision to pick up her studies again once her six children had grown up and gone out. She first earned her associate’s degree at a community college before completing her bachelor’s degree at a 4-year university when she was 84.
Donovan was given a framed certificate by the college, which was delivered by a representative who travelled to Florida. She posed with the diploma while donning a cap and gown and being flanked by her family. On its Instagram feed, the school shared a picture of the fresh graduate.
Donovan, who had a stellar 3.8 GPA, is utilising her degree to write an autobiography and hopes that others will be inspired by her journey.
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