Graduating at 79 - with her daughters cheering her on- Harvard Gazette

"When Rosie Rines graduated from Boston's Roslindale High School in 1964, college didn't seem like an option. But later this month, at 79 years old, she'll don a cap and gown and receive her undergraduate degree from Harvard Extension School - with her daughters cheering her on."

""At that time, you either got married and had children or you had a job," Rines said. "But if you had a job, you still lived at home. I didn't know I could just say, 'I'm 18, I'm going to do what I want.'""

"She married young, moving cross-country to California with her 3-year-old twin daughters. Throughout her 20s and early 30s as a single mother, Rines balanced making ends meet through court transcription work and secretarial jobs while carting her kids to school and field trips and practices and recitals."

"In 2022, something shifted. She can't put her finger on exactly what, but something compelled Rines to return to the Extension Sc"

Rosie Rines graduated from Roslindale High School in 1964 when college seemed out of reach. She married young, moved to California with twin daughters, and worked while raising her children. As a single mother in her 20s and early 30s, she balanced court transcription and secretarial jobs with transporting her daughters to school and activities. She returned to the East Coast when her daughters were 7 and began taking classes at Quincy College at age 36, stopping at an associate degree. She restarted studies in 2013 at Harvard Extension School, paused again after her mother’s death, and returned in 2022 to complete her degree.

Read at Harvard Gazette