Kay Castagnoli, 85, became the oldest person to receive a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech University this month. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in music, summa cum laude and with honors distinctions.
“I love learning,” Castagnoli said, according to the University. “I always loved going to school. I love being on a campus.”
This isn’t the first degree Castagnoli – who grew up in Southern California – has earned. She graduated with a degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley before moving to Virginia in 1987 to research and teach in Virginia Tech’s Department of Chemistry, alongside her husband, Neal.
Overall, Castagnoli has spent more than six decades on campuses. In 2007, right after retiring from the chemistry department, she enrolled as a music student with a focus on piano.
“I thought it was wonderful to have a nontraditional student in class, particularly one who had been a higher ed teacher herself for many years,” said Rick Masters, associate professor of piano and collaborative piano at Virginia Tech. “She was a terrific model to her fellow students. She asked many, many questions; fully participated in classroom discussions; took copious notes; came to office hours; and aced all of her exams.”
As a music student, Castagnoli became one of just five School of Performing Arts students to be nominated for the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and the only music major. She also worked towards an Honors College diploma and took classes in a variety of subjects.
“Being in honors classes was tremendous,” said Castagnoli, who was awarded the honors scholar diploma. “I took some of the most exciting classes on so many topics, even music.”
Anne-Lise Velez said the former professor was willing to experiment.
“Her willingness to come along with the process when we were offering very differently structured courses like SuperStudio made other students more willing to be open to new class structures and ideas, and helped encourage faculty that our ideas could work,” said Velez. “I learned quite a lot from Kay, and she is a reminder that one should always keep learning and reinventing.”
In her piano journey, Castagnoli didn’t just want to get another diploma. She wanted to tackle Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 3,” – often described as the “Mount Everest” of piano concertos, per Virginia Tech.
“This is quite a difficult piece, the sort of thing most pianists tackle as graduate students,” Masters said. “Kay worked her butt off, and at her final recital at Virginia Tech, she played the last movement. It was a blast to hear her play it, knowing how much it meant to her.”
Castagnoli said that her family, which includes five children and nine grandchildren, supported her journey to achieve her music goals.
“When I felt like I was on a slow path or got tired, one of our daughters would always tell me, ‘You can do it, you can do it!’ I’ve been so fortunate, I’ve had good people who helped me along the way, including good teachers and a wonderful husband and family,” Castagnoli said. “It’s quite a life. I’m so blessed.”
Castagnoli may be the oldest graduate to earn a bachelor’s from Virginia Tech, but she isn’t the oldest graduate of all time, according to Guinness World Records. That title currently belongs to Shigemi Hirata, who received a Bachelor of Arts degree at 96, when he graduated from the Kyoto University of Art and Design, in Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan, in 2016.
However, there’s still time.
“I’m going to finish my degree in Italian next,” Castagnoli said about her plans for the future.
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