Earning a college degree is just one step closer to the career of your dreams for many students. But for one 81-year-old Calhoun Community College graduate, it’s much bigger than that, as it is a life-long dream fulfilled.
Birmingham, Alabama native, Gayle Young, found her calling as a natural-born writer in fifth grade when her play was chosen for a school production by her teacher. Although she enjoyed going to school while growing up, Young decided not to pursue college after her high school graduation. Instead, she got married, had four children, and worked as a legal secretary for most of her career. Young continued to write stories of all sorts throughout her life and was able to become a full-time writer after retirement, and published stories and essays in newspapers and anthologies.
Young recalls the motivation that led to her starting and finishing her college journey. “I was on my weekly Sunday phone call with my daughter, and would often bring up my regret for never attending college. Especially since my daughter is a dean at Calhoun,” laughed Young. “But this time, the conversation was different when I expressed my feelings. This time, my daughter said, why not do it now, mom? I responded as usual and said, well, I’ll look into that. Hearing that before, to my surprise, she completed the application online for admission and let me know that an advisor would contact me to schedule my classes. Sure enough, that Wednesday I was registered to begin classes during the fall of 2016”.
With so many interests such as literature, psychology, and history, Young decided to pursue a General Studies degree as it allowed her the freedom to take multiple courses. Getting acclimated to not only going back to school, but to college life, Gayle realized that a lot had changed since the last time she attended school. She found herself becoming discouraged when she had to learn to use the computer and her lack of efficiency and knowledge of them made her want to give up, but she didn’t.
“I won’t use my degree in a career or job making money, but it has been immensely satisfying and helpful in my efforts to keep my mind young. I hope to encourage other older people to do the same. I am changed by college; it changed me in ways that I didn’t think it would,” said Young. “My mind works in different ways now, and I am still planning to take classes even after I finish. Who knows? Maybe I will earn a bachelor’s degree,” she adds.
While completing her coursework, Young continued to write and has published two books during her time at Calhoun. Redbirds, Roses, and Ghosts, which won a national award, as well as a novel entitled Dirty Pink.
Graduating with a 3.7 GPA, Gayle will be among almost 500 students who will graduate from Calhoun this evening at 6 pm in the Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center.
To learn more about Calhoun’s Graduation or to watch it live, visit www.calhoun.edu/graduation.
Original source can be found here.
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