Isn’t it often said that age is just a number and that you are as old as you think?
74-year-old Pat Ormand is living proof that this is true. She received her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) recently, about four decades after she had taken her first college class way back in 1978.
However, what is interesting that there was another graduate in the Ormand family – Pat’s 22-year-old granddaughter Melody!
Pat had taken her first college class at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta. However, she dropped out of college after one semester and spent the next few years of her life in raising a family while working as an accountant.
In all these years, her family always encouraged her to finish her pursue her education further. And she finally gave in and enrolled at the UTC when her granddaughter transferred to the same university to study psychology.
Pat and Melody hardly saw each other in university as they did not have too many classes together.
“One of her classes would end at the same time mine would,” Melody said. “I would see her and just scream and yell ‘nana!’ until I got her attention.”
They also had to take classes online during the pandemic, something that Pat clearly did not enjoy much.
“It’s definitely more difficult, and I prefer in-class,” Pat told CNN. “I really enjoyed the discussions and being able to interact with so many people from different backgrounds. Not having those people around made it harder.”
The duo graduated on 20th November and the university was very proud to have had Pat graduate with her granddaughter.
“We are so proud to have graduates like Melody Ormond and her grandmother, Pat Ormond, in the UTC class of 2020,” Steven R. Angle, UTC Chancellor, told CNN. “Together, they personify the determination, commitment and love of lifelong learning we encourage in every UTC graduate.”
“I always knew that I was going to graduate from college,” said Melody Ormond about her graduation. “I just never knew that my nana was also going to be there.”
“Learning never stops,” Pat said. “That’s something that my father instilled in me when I was younger. No matter what you do, learning never stops. Even if it’s auditing a few classes, there’s always that option.”
And we couldn’t agree more!
What do you think about this fantastic duo? Let us know your views in the comments section below.
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