‘Don’t ever quit’: Local great-grandmother earns degree after 40 years of college

CHARLOTTE — Jackie Smith started college in the 1980s ′s, aiming for a degree in criminal justice. Forty years later, she’s walking across the stage to get her degree.

The local great-grandmother told Channel 9′s Gina Esposito that life got in the way of this lifelong dream for a little. She had to pause her education to take care of her son, and again for her granddaughter, taking about half a dozen pauses in her journey.

“I worked part-time jobs for a while, quit school, and then I went back then my health issues had me out of school for a while,” Smith explained.

She would take a few credits here and there, but something always got in the way. And then her dream changed a little. The grandmother of 16 turned her education and career into something she’s grown used to.

“I actually wanted to be a police officer that was I was younger,” Smith said. “And then the tables turned and I got into childcare.”

On Saturday, she received her degree in Early Childhood Education.

Smith says her grandmother, who died in 2022 at the age of 98, inspired her to finish school.

At age 60, Smith proves its never too late to get an education.

“Don’t ever quit – push yourself. That’s my goal at the end... I’m going to push myself and I’m going to do this and I didn’t give up,” said Smith.

That’s not the end of her educational journey. Smith will graduate again in December form South Piedmont Community College with a degree in Criminal Justice Technology.

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