Yanilet Cornejo, second from left, celebrated with family after earning a bachelor’s degree at age 54.

December 16, 2016 – Nearly 30 years ago, Yanilet Cornejo’s husband, Ronny, showed off a copy of his final report card from the University of Houston.

“He wrote me a note saying, next time, he would like to see my report card from the University of Houston,” she recalled.

On Thursday, Cornejo made good on the goal she had set three decades ago. Not only did she receive report cards from the University of Houston – in a digital format these days – but she graduated with a bachelor’s degree, at age 54, from the College of Education.

“I still can’t believe it,” Cornejo said after walking across the stage in a black cap and gown at the UH basketball arena.

Cornejo, who studied health promotion and psychology, joined some 300 other College of Education students taking part in the fall 2016 convocation. Nicholas Morrow, who had a 4.0 grade-point average and earned a bachelor’s in teaching and learning, led the procession holding the college banner.

The ceremony included students from the College of Education, the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management and the College of Technology. Sharmagne Taylor, president and CEO of On-Site Partners, a meeting and event planning company, gave the convocation address.

“Our workplaces need you,” Taylor, a 1986 graduate of Hilton College, told the students. “Our schools, our communities, need you to bring fresh ideas and perspectives.”

Cornejo had wanted to go to college in Germany after high school, but she said her parents decided she should go to Houston to live with her older sister. Cornejo got married about a year after moving and later had two daughters, Carla and Claudia. She committed herself first to their education. Carla graduated from Brown University. Claudia graduated from Dartmouth College.

Both daughters flew into Houston – Carla from Boston, Claudia from Nashville – to attend the convocation for their mom. They knew how hard she had worked, first spending six years to get her associate’s degree. Cornejo mostly took online courses at the College of Education, juggling her full-time job as an administrative assistant at Texas Children’s Hospital.

“That’s why we’re so excited, because she put her life on hold to put us through school,” Carla said, before snapping a photo of Cornejo at the post-convocation reception hosted by College of Education Dean Robert McPherson.

“Graduates, you make us proud,” McPherson told them. “We want you to go celebrate.”

Cindy Flores, middle, earned a graduate degree in counseling while working as an elementary school teacher.

The vacation from school, however, won’t be long for Cindy Gumandoy, who graduated with a bachelor’s in teaching and learning. She already lined up a job teaching second grade at Thompson Elementary, the same Aldine Independent School District campus where she did her yearlong teaching residency.

Gumandoy said she relates well to the English Language Learners there. She, too, started elementary school not speaking English, having moved to the Aldine area from the Philippines.

She had decorated her graduation cap with pink roses and wrote, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.”

Over the next two weeks, Gumandoy said, she planned to get ready for her first day, preparing conduct sheets to help manage students’ behavior and Popsicle sticks for assigning responsibilities such as line leader to students.

Even at the post-convocation reception, held at the UH Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, the moment still felt surreal to Cindy Flores, who graduated with a master’s in counseling.

She had moved to Houston from Mexico barely speaking English as a high school sophomore and then earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston-Downtown. She pursued her graduate degree while working as a bilingual elementary school teacher in Sheldon ISD.

“I was waiting so long for this day,” Flores said, flanked by friends and family. “I feel the UH pride.”