Nearly 40 years after she first started her college degree, Jackie Smith can finally call herself a college graduate.
Smith, who is also the oldest member of South Piedmont Community College’s Class of 2024, will receive her associate degree in Early Childhood Education during commencement ceremony May 11.
“It feels great,” said Smith, 60. “It’s proof that if you don’t give up, you can do it – even if it takes a while.”
Smith, a native of Marshville, started her college career while still attending Forest Hills High School. In 1985, three years after she graduated from high school, she returned to South Piedmont. It would be the first of a half-dozen or so stops and starts in her college career.
She paused her studies to raise her son. Then she stopped again to help raise her oldest granddaughter (she has 15 “grands” in total). Then came two great-grandchildren. She had to work to help support her family, and sometimes her schedule didn’t leave room for school. She faced a couple health challenges, including a fractured leg last year.
Each time she started again, she earned a few credit hours, inching closer to her goal of a college degree.
This year, 2024, was the year she decided she had to finally cross the finish line.
“I’ve been going through this for a while. I’m getting older, and I didn’t want to be known as a quitter,” she said.
In earning her degree this May, Smith will become the first of her nuclear family – she has two brothers and one sister, now deceased – to graduate from college.
She hopes her example will inspire her extended family, and even members of her broader community.
“I see a lot of people saying they can’t go to college, even though they’re young and don’t have a lot of responsibility. I hope they see from me that, yes, they can do it, and they should do it now,” she said.
As it turns out, this won’t be Smith’s last trip across the commencement stage. She works at a childcare center in Waxhaw, and while she’s excited to put her associate degree in Early Childhood Education to use, when she first started her college career, she was also interested in earning a degree in Criminal Justice.
She’s on track to finish her associate degree in Criminal Justice Technology at South Piedmont later this year. She’s not sure if she’ll want a career change, but she’s not ruling it out.
“I’m excited about any and all doors that may open for me now that I am a college graduate,” she said.