It was always Sarah Pearl Brooks’ wish that her 60-year-old son Allen Brooks would eventually graduate from college. She held on to that wish for years, and Brooks also promised his mother he was going to walk across the stage.
And though she unfortunately passed away, her son made that wish come true as he graduated from Alabama A&M University in December 2024 with a a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies with a concentration in business management, Good Morning America reported.
“It was tough. The classes [were] tough. I was still working eight hours a day and going to school, but it was worth it,” the 60-year-old said.
Brooks initially gained a partial band scholarship to study at Alabama A&M in 1982. He, however, could not successfully finish his course and withdrew in 1986.
“I was only committed to the band and I allowed myself to to make bad grades here and bad grades there,” Brooks explained. “But then after awhile, I got to a point to where I had to leave school. Things [came] up and then I had to get a real job to support myself.”
And though Brooks ultimately continued his life and became a family man as the years went by, he said his mother still stressed that she wished he would return to school.
“Years later, my mom, she always would say to me, ‘I wish you would go back to school one day.’ And I said, ‘Mom, one day, I’m going to do it,'” said Brooks.
Brooks eventually gained admission to Alabama A&M in 2020 and combined his studies with his full-time job. He said he experienced difficulties during that period, but he received some much needed support from his mother and other family members.
“When I would get to a point in my study to where I would be like, ‘Oh man, I’m getting fogged up studying for this exam,’ I would turn around and call [my mom] … I would just talk to her, and [when I] get off the phone, things would start clicking,” he told Good Morning America. “I say she was with me every step of the way.”
Brooks’ mother unfortunately could not witness his December graduation as she passed away in July. “When that happened, part of me was like, I was doing this for her, but I switched gears and said, ‘Mom is still with me. There’s no way I’m going to stop,'” he said before stating that his mother left him “right there to just cross the finish line.”
Brooks also said he was happy he managed to graduate and hoped others would gain inspiration from his achievement.
“Whatever you’re trying to get to make yourself better, you’re going to be faced with some type of adversity, some type of problem, but you gotta just find it within yourself [to] just keep on going,” Brooks said. “The key is to never stop — and even if you do stop, you can always pick back up where you left off.”
Brooks also received several congratulatory messages on TikTok after his daughter, Brionna Washington, posted a video of the memorable moment. The viral video of Brooks walking across the stage has since amassed over 50 million views.
“This is exactly what I needed to see today I needed some inspiration to finish what I started because it’s easy to feel discouraged when you feel like you’re behind,” a TikTok user commented.
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