Post by Logan on May 9, 2016 8:49:52 GMT -6
84-year-old grandfather to graduate from Chicago's Northeastern Illinois University
College student Jerry Pollard never pulled an all-nighter cramming for an exam. No frat parties. He doesn't text or use Facebook. Forget sharing a campus dorm room with a roommate.
His only typical college experience: He took a spring break trip trekking up one of the world's tallest mountains.
On Monday, Pollard will graduate — as thousands of other collegians will do across the country this spring. But at 84, Pollard will graduate with a special distinction: He's the oldest student to earn his first bachelor's degree at Northeastern Illinois University in the last 55 years.
His collegiate career began more than six decades ago, but military service, marriage, children and full-time work would steer him away from school. It would be years before he returned to the classroom. After he retired in 2000, he found his schedule suddenly wide open and no hobbies to fill it. For most of the last 10 years, he's taken one class a semester, careful not to take on too much and still have time to travel and volunteer.
Read more: www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-neiu-college-graduate-met-20160506-story.html
College student Jerry Pollard never pulled an all-nighter cramming for an exam. No frat parties. He doesn't text or use Facebook. Forget sharing a campus dorm room with a roommate.
His only typical college experience: He took a spring break trip trekking up one of the world's tallest mountains.
On Monday, Pollard will graduate — as thousands of other collegians will do across the country this spring. But at 84, Pollard will graduate with a special distinction: He's the oldest student to earn his first bachelor's degree at Northeastern Illinois University in the last 55 years.
His collegiate career began more than six decades ago, but military service, marriage, children and full-time work would steer him away from school. It would be years before he returned to the classroom. After he retired in 2000, he found his schedule suddenly wide open and no hobbies to fill it. For most of the last 10 years, he's taken one class a semester, careful not to take on too much and still have time to travel and volunteer.
Read more: www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-neiu-college-graduate-met-20160506-story.html