She's 94 and ready to graduate from college

[Kadie]

She's 94 and ready to graduate from college
Chip Johnson

Friday, April 23, 2010




Hazel Soares, 94, a month away from graduation at Mills College, takes notes during her Egyptian art history class.


I'd like to suggest that a dictionary publisher consider placing a photo of San Leandro resident Hazel Soares in its next updated edition, right next to the definition of the word "perseverance."

She has earned it.

Soares, now 94, has been married twice, raised six kids, seen two economic depressions, 15 U.S. presidents and two world wars. She's been a working single mother, a nurse, a concert event organizer and an art lover. She has more than 40 grandchildren.

And next month, at the 2010 commencement ceremonies for Mills College, Soares will become a college graduate, 78 years after her high school graduation from then-Roosevelt High School in East Oakland. In 1982, she was one of five classmates who showed up for a 50-year reunion.

"She's always had a book in her hand, or off to the opera or the symphony or the ballet - anything that stimulates the mind," said son Matt Soares, 59, of Springfield, Ore.

Soares just might qualify as the second-oldest student in the world to ever earn a college degree. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Nola Ochs, 95, is the oldest person to ever graduate from college. Ochs graduated with a history degree from Fort Hays State University in Fort Hays, Kan., in 2007.

And what could also be a record of sorts, Soares paid for her education at Mills with benefits provided by her late husband Ellsworth Soares' GI benefits - from World War II


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/23/BA0H1D2VEC.DTL#ixzz0lwPrhytE

[NaturalHigh]

1. Very cool.

[Zomby Woof]

2. At that age

It's just a vanity degree. Too bad those GI benefits couldn't be extended to students who NEED that tuition money and NEED her kind of education more than she does. What the fuck does a 94 year old need with a college degree? But because people don't want to say mean things about someone who looks like their grandma, she gets a free pass, along with that free education.

This story is just feel-good pablum.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

3. Having missed the point entirely, you complain

about funding her husband earned?

[Zomby Woof]

5. He earned it

Not her. She got them by being lucky enough to marry someone who received them by virtue of HIS service. There should be a statute of limitations on those benefits. Or extend them to any great-grandchildren, if she has them. She's just a vain leech.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

7. Yes, and she inherited it.

Also earned it by putting off her education and having 6 children.

Boy, yer in a mood today!

[Dr. Strange]

8. Seems his turtleneck is a little tight today, I think.

[dionysus]

16. someone took a whiff of the a-hole gas today.

:rofl:

[BlancheSplanchnik]

21. riiiight. In 94 yrs,she's contributed nothing to society, her family, even -dare I say it...

YOU.

We are all connected, what one does ripples out to affect the world.


what issues are getting triggered for you here??? With a reaction like that, it's gotta be something deeper going on.

[Juneboarder]

6. Please don't discredit this woman and her desires

Who cares if she's 94 and NEEDS the degree or not? The fact that she's 94 and still getting out of the house regularly and going to college on top of that is truly awesome! My grandma is similar to this lady, but about 7 years younger; I hope she's this active at her age as well.

[Big Blue Marble]

9. With your attitude, you will be shocked to know that here in Kentucky,

anyone over 65 can return to our state schools and take courses or even get undergraduate and graduate degrees for FREE.
Our state has offered this benefit for over 30 years.


This woman at 94 is with her inspiring story of vitality at 94 making more of a contribution to our society than
you are with your mean spirited and twisted misanthropic view of our world.

[TZ]

10. and yet

Funding for young people trying to get degrees has been slashed, loans drying up, whole departments disappearing. Does it seem right to you that people who truly need the education can't get it, while people who want to get a degree because they have nothing better to do get a free ride and deprive people who need this for their livelihood? I'm sorry but while this is a "nice story" the sad fact is, funding for stuff like this should be used for more important things

[ZeitgeistObserver]

11. The number of older people is rising all the time.

'The United States currently has the greatest number of centenarians in the world, estimated at 96,548 on November 1, 2008'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centenarian

So it might be a wise idea to accept older students and workers, instead of suggesting an ice floe.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. Women like the one in the OP aren't bored dilletantes who already had their turn at college

As for funding young people, let's face it -- there are a lot of 18 to 20 somethings who squander the money spent on their educations by partying and underachieving. They're taking up space that those other, underfunded young people would put to better use.

[brooklynite]

19. SOCIALISM!

[SharonRB]

12. -100

Nice way to throw ice cold water on a really nice story. Party pooper!

[Gormy Cuss]

13. Who the hell needs 94 year olds period? Send'em out on the ice floe.

:eyes:

Good for her for achieving her goal.

[MattBaggins]

17. Better hurry up then while the ice floes are still here.

[Leftist Agitator]

20. Quit complaining about the ice floes, penguin.

[NYC Liberal]

22. I was just going to make a similar comment.

We treat the elderly like shit in this country. Sigh.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. GI benefits ARE extended to others

All you gotta do is enlist, complete your term of service, and you got benefits.

It couldn't be easier!

:hi:

[Juneboarder]

4. What an amazing story!! nt

[brooklynite]

18. But she'll be paying off her student loans until she's 120...

[lizziegrace]

25. Most state university systems

have free or insanely reduced tuition of you're over 65. (I've seen posted as low as $3 a semester. :jawdrop: ) Unfortunately, it's the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who must pay the full tuition and who bear the burden of student loans.

[bdamomma]

23. I guess you are never to old to learn!!!

[ddeclue]

24. how are the job interviews going?

[proteus_lives]

26. Good for her!

:thumbsup:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

27. I can only hope that all of us, should we be so lucky to live this long,

will have accomplished as much as this woman has.

She is contributing to our society in a major way by being a terrific role model for all of us, even the curmudgeons.

Bravo to her!

:kick: