SAN ANTONIO – A nonagenarian walked the stage at Northeast Lakeview College (NLC) earlier this week after finally receiving her Associate of Arts degree.
Hazel Feldman accepted her honorary degree on Wednesday during the NLC Commencement at 97 years young.
Veronica Garcia, President of Northeast Lakeview College said during the ceremony that Feldman is receiving the college’s first-ever honorary degree.
“Her advocacy has inspired her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren to attend college, and between all of them — they have achieved over 47 degrees and counting,” Garcia said before calling Feldman to the podium.
During her acceptance speech, Feldman said it had always been her desire to earn a college degree.
She concluded her speech by saying, “to all my fellow graduates, hearken to these words from a 97-year-old lady. Regardless of any adversity that may come your way — dream big and never let your dreams die.”
Watch Feldman’s introduction and speech in the video player above.
Feldman previously spoke with KSAT in April.
“I graduated high school in 1943, just a couple of years ago,” she quipped.
She said she was taking one course at a time but worried she might not finish so she asked the Alamo Colleges Board of Trustees if life experiences could count as credit toward a degree.
“I’ve done a lot in my life as far as work, and I’ve done a lot of business, lots of sales work, lots of representation,” Feldman told KSAT.
The board of trustees accepted the life experiences as credit and awarded her an honorary Associate of Arts degree.
