A 105-year-old Stanford University graduate ‘Amazing’ 83 years after graduating from college
After an 83-year break, a 105-year-old woman who began attending Stanford University in 1936 made her way back to the campus to get her graduate degree. She has been an inspiration to others ever since.
According to the Stanford news website, Virginia Hislop received her master’s degree in education a few weeks ago from the Palo Alto, California, university.
In a phone conversation with Fox News Digital, Daniel Schwartz, dean of Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, revealed the information.
The experience made Schwartz realize that “I [didn’t] have to worry about giving a graduation speech,” the journalist told Fox News Digital. “Just introduce Virginia, or ‘Ginger,’ and that’ll be enough to set the mood,” he declared.
According to the Stanford Graduate School of Education, Hislop enrolled as an undergraduate student for the first time in 1936. According to the university’s news page, Hislop continued to teach at Stanford while pursuing a doctoral degree after receiving her bachelor’s degree in education in 1940.
However, love and war got in the way.
The Second World War crushed dreams
According to Stanford’s news page, Hislop was ready to turn in her final thesis by 1941, when her future husband was called up to duty in the United States during World War II.
She so decided to postpone her studies in order to be married and left university before she could graduate.
As an Army wife, she traveled the nation for a number of years before settling in Yakima, Washington, with her spouse and their two kids.
“I thought it was one of the things I could pick up along the way if I needed it and I always enjoyed studying, so that wasn’t really a great concern to me – and getting married was,” she stated on Stanford’s news site.
Hislop told the Yakima Herald-Republic in 2018 that she eventually settled with her husband and two children in Yakima, Washington, during the war, after spending several years traveling the nation as an Army wife.
“I didn’t return to teaching, but I feel I put my teaching certificate to good use serving [on] committees and on boards and trying to improve the educational opportunities every chance I got,” she told the newspaper.
According to Stanford’s news website, this marked the start of a career in education that lasted more than 80 years at the local, county, and state levels in Washington.
Hislop told the Yakima Herald-Republic that she was “not pleased” that her daughter Anne was being recommended to take a home economics course rather than advanced English while Anne was getting ready for high school. As a result, she ran for office on the local school board. Hislop prevailed.
Hislop later became a founding member of the Yakima Valley Community College board of directors.
“I felt that she could learn to cook at home, and it was more important that she learn more academic skills at school,” Hislop stated at Stanford.
Hislop later became a founding member of the Yakima Valley Community College board of directors. The Yakima Herald-Republic said that she contributed to the fund-raising efforts for the future Heritage University in nearby Toppenish, Washington.
According to the Washington-based university’s website, Hislop even assisted in the establishment of a scholarship at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in 2017. The Virginia Hislop Emergency Fund is the name of it.
“It was worth the wait for a while.”
Hislop was described by Schwartz as a “fierce advocate for equality” during the most recent graduation ceremony, and he expressed his pride in awarding the Master of Arts in education to the 105-year-old graduate.
If Hislop’s son-in-law hadn’t persuaded Schwartz to give her an honorary degree, Schwartz told Fox News Digital, Hislop might not have been able to attend the graduation ceremony.
Schwartz understood that Hislop wouldn’t require an honorary degree when he discovered her original 1941 transcripts.
“We mapped her courses from back in the day to current courses, and it satisfied the current requirements for a master’s degree,” he stated to Fox News Digital.
Hislop’s son-in-law, according to Schwartz, was “elated.”
Hislop was “strong and sharp,” according to Schwartz, even at 105 years old, when she crossed the graduation stage to accept her degree.
“If I had not seen the transcripts, I would have thought this was a hoax,” Schwartz stated. “She is moving around and talking like someone 25 years younger.”
Hislop, her kids, grandkids, and great-grandchildren probably won’t forget that occasion anytime soon.
At the graduation ceremony, she remarked, “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
Since her graduation, admirers have been posting comments on her accomplishments in a variety of online forums.
Someone wrote, “Sharp mind even at her age.”
“Awww,” remarked another. She remains so perceptive. I have no idea why, but this made me cry. Incredible.”
“Congratulations to her and may God bless her [for] many more years to come,” another person commented.(News Source)