The enthusiastic applause of Terri Stuart’s classmates filled the room as she announced that she had finally learned how to screenshot and place images into a powerpoint presentation. Her daughter, Caitlyn Stuart beamed with pride.
“That was a pretty proud daughter moment,” Caitlyn said.
Mother and daughter have shared similar classes since they began their journey toward a teacher librarian credential together at Cal State Long Beach in the fall of 2015.
Terri, 59 years old, graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in history and returned to school in 1995 to gain her multiple subject credential from the university. After working for Long Beach Unified School District for 20 years as a substitute teacher, Terri fell in love with the literary world after subbing for a friend as a librarian.
“I decided that I wanted to get a job in the library, but I had to have my credentials to be able to achieve this,” Terri said.
A position opened in the same library so Caitlyn, 26 years old and fresh out of gaining her multiple subject credential from CSULB in 2014, decided she would go back to school alongside her mother.
“For me, it was like I just graduated and was planning on being a classroom teacher but pretty much a week in the library and I realized that’s where my real passion stood,” Caitlyn said.
Going back to school as a mother-daughter duo was a unique experience for the pair. Hysterically laughing, they shared how going to class differed from the everyday interactions they usually encountered.
“You know like when your mom asks you how to turn on the TV and you’re like, ‘Oh my god I’ve told you this 50 million times.’ That was the past three years for me,“ Caitlyn said. “It was a weird reversal of roles and a little bit of frustration going, ‘Oh my god I’ve explained this to you 50 times, figure it out woman.’”
Terri said found it “extremely hard” to get used to using technology at school.
“There was a lot of give and take,” Caitlyn said. “We really worked together and there were very few times that we got legitimately got frustrated with each other. Most of the time it was funny and entertaining for us to work together.”
Terri said they used one another’s strengths to help each other excel in all their classes.
Being together so often brought unveiled a new layer of Caitlyn and Terri’s relationship, one filled with good times and bad.
“There were tears, a lot of the times we shared, ‘I don’t know how to do this, I’m overwhelmed’ so we would just call each other out of fusteration and vent,” Caitlyn said.
Since the two are already full-time employees at a library, they said they are looking forward to relaxing this summer without the weight of school on their shoulders.
“I thought [college] would be the hardest time of my life, but college is amazing,” Caitlyn said.
While Terri echoed her daughter’s sentiment, graduation has an added weight of accomplishment for her that she’ll carry across the stage.
“It feels really good at my age,” Terri said. “It’s a huge accomplishment to be able to learn something new again and go to college.”
To older students looking to return back to school but are hesitant, Terri said they should not be scared since younger students are there to “embrace you.”
“I really don’t think I could have done it without Caitlyn. I know I wouldn’t have continued on with the program if I didn’t have her to lean on,” Terri said.
Though the process was difficult, she said crossing the finish line will be worth every moment.
“It’s an amazing sense of accomplishment at my age to try something new and I don’t know if I can express that as strongly as I feel it,” Terri said.