A retired woman from Alabama is tying up some loose ends and crossing a major accomplishment off her bucket list.
Vivian Cunningham finally earned her Bachelor’s Degree.
On May 8, Cunningham, 78, walked the stage to receive her diploma from Samford University in Birmingham, where she completed six years of course work in the Liberal Studies program, the school said in a press release.
In a video of her big graduation day, Cunningham can be seen on stage donning a purple gown and cap and red face mask as she is awarded her degree.
Watch the video above.
“Samford University is proud to present it 78-years-young graduate, Vivian Rosetta Cunningham,” said a speaker before presenting her with the degree.
Cunningham is thrilled to finish her studies.
“Oh, I am so excited,” she said. “It feels good, you know, to have gone through that education process.”
“But I am so elated,” she added. “I feel good. Real good.”
Cunningham, a single mother of two, formerly worked in a dress shop in Atlanta before relocating to Birmingham, where she worked up the ranks at the Alabama Power Company.
While this is her first Bachelor’s, it’s not her first go at higher education, or even her first diploma.
Over the years, she finished course work to get an Associates Degree in Paralegal Studies from Virginia College before continuing her education at Samford.
Cunningham indicated that she may not even be done with school and may go for her Master’s.
“Not go right into it, I have to rest for a while,” she clarified on her graduation day.
“I don’t want to stop. I love to read, I love to sew, I love to watch movies. I don’t want to just sit because I’m retired. I want the knowledge,” she said in the press release.
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