History Made as 90-Year-Old Joyce DeFauw Graduates from US Varsity
By Boniface Ihiasota, USA
History was made Sunday as Joyce DeFauw, a 90-year-old great-grandmother, graduated from Northern Illinois University in the United States.
DeFauw, Excel Magazine International learnt obtained her Bachelor of General Studies Degree after 71 years of enrolling into the College.
“DeFauw had started college in 1951 but dropped out to get married and have children,” reported USA Today.
After High School, she had earned a scholarship to Northern Illinois State Teachers College, which is now NIU.
Excel Magazine International further gathered that she enrolled in college in 1951, becoming the first person in her family to do so.
DeFauw eventually dropped out of school, wed her first husband, and had three children.
She was remarried five years after her husband passed away and had six more children, including two sets of twins.
The great-grandmother of 24 and grandmother of 17 claimed that her family had pushed her to go back.
She returned to NIU in 2019 to complete what she had begun decades earlier.
“Don’t give up. Even if you do quit, go back. Just hang in there. Keep learning. Keep giving thanks. It’s there for you. Just go for it,” she said.
