SHEILA S GRADUATED WHEN SHEWAS 78
Leaving school at 14 d didn’t seem so unusual b back in the 1940s.
Careers weren’t on the a agenda for young women s so I got a job in a grocery s store. I married when I w was 20 and we had two d daughters, Jane and Sally.
Jane graduated with an English degree and at her g graduation ceremony I realised what I had m missed out on.
When I retired at 65, I t took a short writing skills c course and when I handed i in my last essay, my tutor s said, “You should do an Open University degree course next.”
I realised it didn’t matter if I failed. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
I was 72 when I became an undergraduate, studying European Humanities. The course was part-time and took six years to complete.
At first, I didn’t even have a computer and would write my essays in longhand.
Shortly after graduating, an opportunity arose for me to become President of the National Council of Women of Great Britain. Had it not been for the degree I never would have accepted. It was a huge responsibility and required me to write reports which were presented to the United Nations. The degree had boosted my confidence and broadened my horizons in so many ways. n Getting a degree isn’t the end – it’s only the beginning. Visit WWW.OPEN.AC.UK/ for more.