Press Releases

May 25, 2000
52-Year-Old Mom Gets Her Degree With 4.0; Goes High-Tech

Contact:
Suzanne Donovan
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

Judith McCabe didn't even know how to type when she re-entered college at the age of 50 just over two years ago. On May 21 she graduated from Southampton College of Long Island University with a 4.0 grade point average in Liberal Studies and a minor in Graphic Design, created as a result of her hard work.

For someone who transferred into Southampton as a virtual technophobe, her transformation is remarkable. She became an accomplished computer designer in the College's new high-powered Mac lab, and is being encouraged by her professors to go into freelance computer design while she decides if she wants to go on to graduate school. She also just won the College's Division Honors award for outstanding academic achievement.

"I wanted to learn the language of computers when I entered," said Judith. "I just wanted to learn how to use one, and one thing led to another. I really like design."

The Southampton mother of two, whose 19-year-old daughter is just completing her first year of college, said she was usually the oldest student in her classes, but once her fellow students learned to trust her, they enthusiastically traded ideas. ?They were my mentors. If it wasn?t for my fellow students I would have died,? said Judith.

"Many older students who join college computer classes find themselves surrounded by 18-year-old whiz kids and go running for the door, never to return," said Instructor Darren Johnson, who taught Judith's first PC class. " But Judith would not be deterred.

She spent countless extra hours honing her skills, and by the end of the semester she was turning out some of the best work in class. Her focus and work ethic will help her succeed in whatever she attempts."

After graduating from high school in Garden City in 1964, she held a wide variety of jobs including airline stewardess, photographer's assistant and owner of a children's clothing store. Despite her experience she wasn't prepared for the amount of work she'd have to put into her classes. In addition to her classes and her role as wife and mother of teenagers, she worked as a substitute teacher at a local day care center. The only piece she could cut was her social life. "I wasn?t on the swim team," Judith added, dryly.

She notes that her experience is reaffirming not only for returning students but for all those young people who aren't focused while in high school, or didn't survive their first year of college. "We give up on so many people. This whole idea of returning is so important. If I can do it, anyone can do it."

Her lament now is an age-old one: "Now what am I going to do? The more you know, the more you realize how much there is to know."