A mother-daughter duo who overcame adversity to pursue education are now graduating at the same time! Yvonne Spann Sowers, 71, and her daughter, Eyamba Sowers Scott, both lived through the tough experience of being working single moms. Although they already had successful careers in their respective fields, they wanted to keep learning. Yvonne decided to get her bachelor’s in Biblical Studies, while Eyamba got her Masters in Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
“It just lined up to where my mom graduated in May and I’ll be graduating in June with my Masters degree,” Eyamba told ABC News. “Watching her throughout my life has always been an inspiration, and when I was watching her achieve her dream of getting the bachelor’s degree and seeing how well she did, it just forced me to want to excel as well.”
She added, “Growing up in a single parent home and being a single mom in my life and just the challenges in life and I was able to overcome this and do these things, it is just a journey that I’m glad that I took. There is nothing too hard or challenging that if you put your mind to it that you cannot achieve if you work towards it.”
Meanwhile, Yvonne said that her kids inspired her, too. When her youngest daughter attended college, being on campus inspired the mom to go back to school. Around the same time, her church offered her a scholarship.
“I still felt like I still needed to learn some more,” Yvonne told USA Today. “Just don’t think that you’re done because you’re 70 or 80 or even 25.”
Neither mother nor daughter had it easy while pursuing their degrees. Yvonne was recovering from surgery when she first got started, and she wasn’t able to hear out of one ear. Eyamba’s first semester coincided with the lockdown in 2020. However, they both made it through.
“Don’t give up your journey, whatever you want,” said Yvonne. “The passion was there all the time. I was afraid at first, but then I started going forward and I didn’t feel the fear anymore.”
Eyamba wasn’t the first daughter in the family to graduate at the same time as her mom. When Yvonne finished high school in 1970, her own mom was doing the same at the age of 50!
“It’s never too late to do the things that you have a passion for.” Eyamba said. “Time is going to pass regardless. You can choose to do something with your time or not.”
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