CENTER VALLEY, Pa. (AP) — A lot of people have been asking Maryann Wickemeyer why.
“Ever since I was little, I always wanted education,” she said, detailing how a full life, with jobs, marriage, children and then grandchildren, just kept getting in the way of pursuing a college degree. “But there was more that was nagging at me, you know — the education.
“I just used to tell people, ‘If only I had that degree, like the scarecrow from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ If only I had a degree, I’d be smart.’ And I’d always joke about it like, ‘I just need that sheet of paper, and then I’ll know I have a brain.’”
Wickemeyer, 71, of Bethlehem, got that sheet of paper Friday. She graduated summa cum laude from DeSales University with her bachelor’s degree in liberal studies with concentrations in theology, history and philosophy.
She was one of over 400 undergraduate and graduate students who received their diplomas from the private Catholic university in Center Valley during a ceremony at the PPL Center in downtown Allentown, which was also livestreamed on YouTube.
During a video presentation before the ceremony that featured officials from departments across the university, Jerry Joyce, the university’s executive vice president, said he will always remember the class of 2021 as “the year of resilience.”
“You have been through so much through this past year with the pandemic and having to pivot and adjust,” he said. “But I know that those skills and those experiences will take you a long way.”
The Rev. James Greenfield, who in 2018 became the school’s first alumnus to become its president, congratulated students for their “flexibility, cooperation and your resilience, completing your college degree in this epic pandemic.”
“In this extremely uncertain time, you are graduating into a global emergency that has interrupted everything,” he said. “Someone joked recently that in addition to your bachelor’s and graduate degrees, we should award all of you another degree in handling uncertainty. But, let’s face it, one that is for sure — all of you are more interesting because of this pandemic.”
Greenfield gave out fist bumps instead of handshakes, and graduates and faculty alike wore masks during the ceremony.
As Wickemeyer walked across the stage with her diploma, cheers came from the crowd.
Education has become more important for older residents across the country, as people are generally staying in the workforce longer.
There are fewer retirement offerings from employers, increases in lifespans requiring more savings to finance a longer retirement, and rising costs of living, including housing and medical expenses, according to a 2018 study published by AARP. In addition, The Great Recession from 2007 to 2009 negatively affected savings for many, compelling some to delay retirement.
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Those 65 and older are least likely to be in the labor force if they have less than a high school diploma, but are most likely to be in the labor force if they have a master’s degree or higher, according to the study.
Not only does higher education help those stay in the workforce longer, but their pay, the kind of work they’re doing and the environment in which they do it is generally better, too.
“Individuals with higher levels of education may be more likely to work in occupations with good working conditions and higher levels of compensation that act as an incentive to work longer,” according to AARP.
And recent census data backed up the AARP study, with a report released in February showing a 5% increase in people getting a bachelor’s degree over the age of 25 in 2015 to 2019 compared to 2005 to 2009.
“Bachelor’s degrees are important marks of progress for both individuals and society,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau report, which also noted those that attain that level of education generally have higher lifetime earnings, lower odds of unemployment and better health outcomes.
Wickemeyer retired from the legal department at Lutron Electronics Company in Coopersburg, then picked up a part-time job she enjoys close to her home in Bethlehem at Access Services. But for her, getting a degree wasn’t about advancing her career — it was for herself.
“I was doing it just to enrich myself, to just make me a better version of myself,” she said. “It was a drive to just learn — to enjoy learning and find the things that interested me and learning more about different topics. It was just a lot of good things that made me feel better about myself.”
The returned focus on herself came after years of making her three sons and six grandchildren her priority. But, whenever she told them “Mom’s in school. Keep your requests to a minimum,” they always respected it and shared her excitement, she said.
And her sons convinced her to participate in the graduation ceremony Friday.
“I hesitated walking and making a big thing about my degree,” she said. “You know, as an older lady and everybody else so young graduating, but my sons insisted.
“It almost makes me well up with tears thinking that my sons are going to be at my graduation,” she said Thursday. “Oh, it’s wonderful to know they’ll be there.”
Her sons don’t see her as a senior citizen, she said. Instead, she’s “just Mom.”
“We don’t talk about age as a stopping point for me. It’s just another year, another number,” Wickemeyer said. “It’s what life is to supposed to be all about — to do the best you can with the time you have, and not to measure it in just stages, but rather just taking it as it comes, one day at a time.”
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