[ad_1]
It took Virginia Hyslop 83 years to get her master’s degree from Stanford University. Now, at 105 years old, she has finally graduated.
“Oh my gosh, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” she said as she walked across the stage Sunday to receive her diploma. She was delighted by her family, grandchildren and the class of 2024.
Daniel Schwartz, the dean of Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, recalled being worried he would cry while introducing Hislop on stage.
“Before I even got to the tearful part, the crowd erupted and erupted in cheers,” he said. “Virginia got her education at a young age, she just didn’t get her degree. This is a great opportunity to come back and celebrate a life of homecoming and education.”
Hyslop had to leave Stanford in early 1941 when her fiancé, George, was called up to serve in World War II. Unable to complete her thesis, she puts her degree on hold and her university days are behind her, later moving to Washington to raise her family.
When her son-in-law contacted the university recently, however, he discovered that the final thesis was no longer required for a degree. Hyslop was eligible to graduate decades later.
“I’ve been doing this job for years and it’s nice to be recognized,” she told the university news site.
Hyslop’s educational journey at Stanford began in 1936 when she enrolled to study for her bachelor’s degree in education. A few years later, she completed this milestone and immediately moved on to her postgraduate studies, driven by her ambition to teach after university.
In 1941, Hyslop, like many other women in the US, was forced to trade her career for marriage in support of the wider military mobilization. Focusing on family was considered the height of American self-sacrifice during this period, and she left Stanford to marry George before his deployment, honeymooning in Oklahoma near his Army post at Fort Sill.
After the war ended, the couple moved to Yakima, Washington, where they raised their two children.
“I haven’t gone back to teaching, but I feel I put my teaching certificate to good use by serving on committees and boards and trying to improve educational opportunities every chance I get,” Hyslop told Yakima Herald-Republic in an exclusive interview in 2018.
Indeed, Hyslop’s formal education may have ended in 1941 with her early departure from Stanford, but her work in the following years was instrumental and transformative.
She opposed regressive middle school curricula that required her daughter to take home economics instead of English and lobbied for independent community colleges in Washington state.
after the promotion of the newsletter
She later raised funds for Heritage University, an institution founded and led by women, and also helped raise $6 million for students hoping to attend the school.
A scholarship at Pacific Northwest University bears her name.
Schwartz, Stanford’s dean, described her as a “fierce advocate for equity and the opportunity to learn” when he presented her with her well-deserved red diploma all these years later.
“For many people a degree is a sign of achievement and it was great to be able to celebrate someone who cares so much about learning and has dedicated his life to teaching other people,” he said.
“Even though we gave her the diploma, she really gave us something that day.”
[ad_2]
