At 102 years old, Sarah Simpkins has fulfilled her dream of earning a college degree. She graduated from Brightpoint Community College’s Early Childhood Education programme alongside her granddaughter Halimah Shepherd-Crawford on Monday night.
REPORTERS AT LARGE earlier reported that Sarah Simpkins planned to graduate college alongside her granddaughter after dropping out when she got pregnant with her first child 81 years ago.
Simpkins has just completed her first semester of Brightpoint Community College’s early childhood education program with a 3.5 grade point average.
“I can’t even express my emotions right now,” Shepherd-Crawford said. “It was all an idea, and we’re here now. And I’m just so excited for my grandmother that she accomplished what she wanted.”
Simpkins told WWBT in December that she “feels like 42″ when asked how old she is. (She was 101 at the time.)
“I feel very wild,” Simpkins said Monday night. “I feel very grateful to God for letting me do whatever I do. Thank you, God.”
Returning to college was something Simpkins wanted to do for decades.
The centenarian dropped out of Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina, at the age of 20 after becoming pregnant with the first of her 12 children.
She focused on growing her family and had 12 children, but she never lost sight of her goal.
Simpkins moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Virginia at the age of 96 to live with her granddaughter, Halimah Shepherd-Crawford, who is now enrolled at the same community college located in Chester.
“It’s something that I had to do,” Simpkins said. “I’m very, very grateful that God has enabled me to do this,” she added.
