Great-Grandmother of 15 Becomes a College Graduate at 90: 'Don't Give Up on Your Dream'

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:Southern New Hampshire University

Southern New Hampshire University

A New Hampshire mother of five, grandmother of 12 and great-grandmother of 15 has a new title — college graduate.

Annette Roberge, 90, recently achieved a lifelong dream when she received her degree from Southern New Hampshire University last month.

“It’s so unreal,” she toldGood Morning Americaabout attaining her associate’s degree on Saturday, Nov. 23. “I mean, I know [it’s real], I see it on the wall but it’s like still being in a dream world.”

Roberge’s academic success is about dedication, she told the outlet. After her husband died while serving in Vietnam in the 1970s, she enrolled at the university — but she had to delay her studies due to motherhood.

“You gotta go with priorities,” she said about raising five children. “It wouldn’t be fair to them to sacrifice them. I figured the children came first, so I just said, ‘Well, I’ll put it on hold and I’ll finish up one of these days.’ "

Since the ceremony — in which the university’s president recognized her as the school’s eldest graduate — Roberge reflected on the moment, and said she was on “cloud nine.”

“Don’t give up on your dream,” she told theGlobe,and added: “You’re never, never too old to learn and if you learn, it widens your own horizon of things, your own knowledge of what’s going on in the world. … It makes a better world for you and of those around you.”

In addition to her family, Roberge’s colleagues and friends at the university are also reveling in her accomplishment — and those to come.

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“We are incredibly proud of Annette earning her associate’s degree, and are excited to continue dreaming and learning alongside her as she pursues her bachelor’s degree with us,” the university said in a statement to PEOPLE.

source: people.com