It is said that there is no age to achieve whatever you wish from life. Proving this just right, a woman at the age of 89 in the United States completed her master’s degree and posed with the graduation robe and hat at Southern New Hampshire University. The university announced the same and said that Ms Joan Donovan completed Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing.
A table with a bouquet and a bag of goodies was decorated with balloons and cupcakes for the elderly woman. “I am just thrilled,” Ms Donovan said about the graduation celebration, according to the institute’s press release. “I am honoured. I’m overwhelmed, and your kindness means a lot,” she continued.
Ms Donovan’s academic trajectory was unusual from the start. She claimed she began first grade when she was four and a half years old and graduated from high school at the age of 16, the press release further stated. “When I graduated from high school, I was told there was no money in the family to send me to college.” Ms Donovan’s mother called her “brilliant,” but she didn’t want her time in school to come to an end. She therefore went back to her high school to enroll in post-graduate courses. However, her formal education fell by the wayside after she got married and had a family.
When her six children were grown up, Ms Donovan rekindled her ambition to go to college. At the age of 84, she completed her undergraduate studies at a community college. Later, she joined Southern New Hampshire University to pursue the creative writing course.
Dr Will Napier, Ms Donovan’s capstone instructor, said, “Throughout the ordeal, Joan continued to produce text that demonstrated intellect, creativity, and, above all else, humor. With all that was going on during the term, there was always time and space for levity, and Joan was quick to share the good within the world to remind us all why we choose to be creative and why we choose to share a story with others.”
Ms Donovan, who is the oldest of SNHU’s 17,700 2022 graduates, wants to prove that it is never too late to continue studying. Despite the fact that her college experience took a little longer than average, she finished it and maintained a 3.8 GPA. “So I say, ‘try things.’ If you fail, try it again … but just keep trying,” Ms Donovan said.
