3 members of the same family in Mississippi have all graduated with master’s degrees from the Mississippi State University-Meridian.
Commondre Cole, 45, and his two adult children, Ja’Coby Cole, 25, and Iesha Gully, 27, stood together as they completed their respective degrees.
All 3 were teachers prior to attending university and completed their degrees while continuing to work. Commondre is a health teacher at Northwest Middle School, Ja’Coby teaches physical education, and Iesha is a second-grade inclusion teacher at Northeast Elementary.
While both the children were entering the university Commondre was encouraged by his wife to also attend. He said:
“Really my wife, she already has her specialist. She said you might as well go back to school with the kids. I decided to go back with them and we accomplished this and we’re all walking together.”
Ja’Coby meanwhile told reporters:
“Family is everything. You always got to have someone watching your back, keep on you.”
Adding:
“I knew I’d have to have a backup plan, so I thought about my mom, my dad’s, and my sister’s footsteps. They’re all educators, and I thought it’d be best for me to follow in their footsteps.”
Iesha spoke about how the family supported each other through their studies and how this gave them the extra determination and support to complete their degrees. They said:
“We were taking like some of the same classes. So we were studying together, trying to get ready for mid-terms and final exams..so it was a blessing at the end of the day. This is a big accomplishment for our family. Just to keep driving and keep going forward and to lead by example and to show my younger siblings and the rest of my family that we can do it. We started strong, and we finish strong.”
Their entire family is now in awe of the academic threesome and are said to be continually watching the graduation video to remember the great day. The grandmother of the two youngsters even shared the great news of their success on Facebook which then went viral. All 3 hope to have great careers going forward.
[Based on reporting by: Positive Outlooks]
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