An exceptional 101-year-old woman, Sarah Simpkins has fulfilled her lifelong dream after earning a Bachelor’s degree from Brightpoint Community College in Chester, Virginia in the United States.
Sarah, who is now a grandmother dropped out of college more than eight decades ago after she became pregnant. She went on to give birth to 12 children but still had the dream of going back to college to earn a degree.
She enrolled to study early childhood education at Brightpoint Community College in the United States. She was able to study at the college due to Virginia’s Senior Citizens Higher Education Act of 1974, which allows senior citizens to enroll in higher education at no cost.
“I wanted to do that just to prove to me that I can do it,” Sarah told WTOK News. Sarah takes in-person art classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays stating that she finds her usual coursework to be easy.
“When I go to do the homework, that’s easy. Piece of cake,” Sarah said. She was able to finish her first semester at Brightpoint Community College with a 3.5 grade point average.
“I wanted to do that just to prove to me that I can do it,” she added. She also mentioned that she has company when it comes to her schoolwork.
Sarah’s granddaughter, Halimah Shepherd-Crawford is also studying at the same Brighton community college. Halimah mentioned that her grandmother moved from New York to Virginia to live with her when she was at the age of 96.
“My grandmother’s just an inspiration. It’s special because we both will finish together, and we’ll both walk across the stage together. It made us work harder. And that was our motivation. We’re gonna do this together. We’re gonna finish together,” she said.