A 71-year-old mother and her daughter make history, graduating college together with honors

Yvonne Spann Sowers, 71, recently walked across the stage after earning a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies from South Carolina’s W.L. Bonner College. However, reaching this academic milestone was not the only thing the septuagenarian had to smile about, as she also graduated Cum Laude and was named the valedictorian of her class, WCIV ABC News 4 reported.

“I always had a yearning to learn more about the word of God and what it did, it enhanced my understanding of the word of God,” Yvonne said.

The next thing that crowned the 71-year-old’s accomplishment was graduating the same year as her daughter, Eyamba Sowers Scott, who also walked across the stage with a Master’s in Homeland Security and Emergency Management from National University.

“It just lined up to where my mom graduated in May and I’ll be graduating in June with my Masters degree,” Scott said. “Watching her throughout my life has always been an inspiration, and when I was watching her achieve her dream of getting the bachelor’s degree and seeing how well she did, it just forced me to want to excel as well.”

Just like her mother, Scott also graduated Cum Laude. “My young daughter would watch my mom and I in school and my mom would say, I just got a 100 on this exam, I just got a 100,” Scott said.

The mother-daughter duo also encouraged people to never hang up their boots irrespective of where they find themselves in life. 

“Growing up in a single-parent home and being a single mom in my life and just the challenges in life and I was able to overcome this and do these things, it is just a journey that I’m glad that I took,” said Scott. “There is nothing too hard or challenging that if you put your mind to it that you cannot achieve if you work towards it.”