Senior citizens around Southwest Georgia put no age limit on their education.

By Ashley Hindsman of the Albany Herald
Published Sunday, February 10, 2008
ALBANY — Nathaniel Carson is not some college kid.

ALBANY — Nathaniel Carson is not some college kid.

Sure he carries books, goes to class and tries to scribble notes as fast as his instructor can verbalize them.

But Carson isn’t a wet-behind-the-ears 20-something.

He’s 69 and probably the oldest carpentry student at Albany Technical College.

Just weeks into his first semester, Carson said he was instantly impressed with the great detail the class went into within the first sessions.

“I had never thought about wood in those terms, so even if I never go back I’ve already got my money’s worth,” Carson said.

Carson is already a considerable handyman, having worked on several projects with his brothers and father in his Oneida, Tenn., hometown.

“I’m a lover of wood,” he said. “I love natural wood and I’m well pleased with what I’ve been exposed to.”

But another family project is his inspiration for wanting to learn more about carpentry.

When he visits his family in Tennessee, he doesn’t want to disrupt their house by occupying someone else’s room for the duration of his visit. So he and his brothers have decided to build a log cabin for him to live in while he is there.

“I know a little about carpentry, but I want to be better at it and do as much work on this as I can,” Carson said.

Carson is one of the many Southwest Georgia college students who have decided it’s never too late to further their education.

Jana Wiggins, director of marketing and public relations at Moultrie Technical College, said nontraditional students make up 14 percent of the student body.

“That tends to be leveling out right now, but I do believe that’s what’s happening, that students are coming back and getting their GED and they’re realizing that there is so much more they could be doing,” Wiggins said.

And that is exactly the thought process of Moultrie Tech students Thomas and Clara Sealy, 62 and 61 respectively, at the Tifton campus.

Thomas Sealy, 62, and wife Clara, 61, work on an assignment during their introduction to microcomputers class at Moultrie Technical College’s Tifton campus.  Photo by Travis Hatfield of the Albany Herald.

After attending classes in the Adult Literacy Program at Moultrie Tech and passing the GED test, Clara decided to begin studying early childhood care while Thomas began taking computer information systems classes.

The two married young and started a family early. When they were laid off from their jobs at Burlen Corporation to outsourcing, they realized just how much their livelihood depended on having a diploma and a degree.

“Nobody will hire you if you don’t,” Clara said in a phone interview.

With four quarters left until she graduates, Clara said she thinks she has gotten through the harder parts of being an older college student.

“The math was the most difficult part,” she said. “I had to take algebra and geometry and I never had that in high school.”

She also said getting accustomed to working with computers was a little difficult at first, but now she and her husband take a computer class together every day and help each other study when they’re at home.

Thomas said though he isn’t really sure exactly what he wants to do with his education, he knows it will definitely be useful to him.

“I just decided to do something for myself. I thought I might do something to work out of my home,” he said.

Older college students around Southwest Georgia have found going back to school can help enhance the career they have already started.

Mack Hall, a 66-year-old automotive technology student at South Georgia Technical College in Americus, said he decided to go back to school to keep up with the automotive business he has worked in for decades.

“Most of the automotive industry is changing so fast, that’s why I needed to go back,” he said. “When I first started there wasn’t a computer in a vehicle. Today, the newer vehicles have between one and five computers.”

Hall is in his second year at South Georgia Tech, and while being one of the older students in his classes doesn’t bother him, he said he doubts he will be taking any more classes when he is done.

“If I go back for anything else it will be something for enjoyment like culinary arts,” he said.

Albany State University student Mary Barnes, 64, said she decided to come back to Albany and get in school, saying, “I didn’t want my gray matter to become sawdust.”

When Barnes left Albany more than 40 years ago, she ventured into law and served as a police officer for several years. But she said her main inspiration for coming back to her hometown and going to school was the resounding effects of her role in the Albany civil rights movement.

“I had been a part of the civil rights movement and I remember being jailed here,” Barnes said. “My main reason for being a police officer is that I can be as kind and as considerate as this particular white officer had been to the people in my cell. He even apologized for the conditions that we were in.

“I decided I had to take advantage of education here after the civil rights experience,” she added.

Barnes said she also began to realize how much of a necessity a degree is for a large number of positions.

“I began applying and so many jobs required degrees I thought it was a joke. I didn’t know you needed a Ph.D. to be a clerk,” she laughed.

She said she will probably be majoring in political science or sociology so she can be an advocate for senior citizens who may not be aware of how society is evolving around them.

“Things have changed and they have no clue what is going on not because they have no interest,” she said, “it’s like a whole new world.”

Barnes said she would specifically like to work with keeping computerized records and helping to make them more available for senior citizens who may not be computer literate.

“Just because things are on the computer, does that mean I give up my right to access it?” Barnes said.

Wiggins said older students are more frequently creating new opportunities for themselves, a feat that has no age limit.

“Even though they are hitting it a little bit later in life, I applaud them for taking that step,” she said. “That’s a courageous step. They may start a whole new career path for themselves.”

And though some may be intimidated by the computer-driven society of today, Wiggins said a lot of students are getting over that fear and are functioning as well as their younger counterparts.

“They don’t feel like they’re behind the times,” she said. “They can be just as media savvy as the rest of us.”

Thomas Sealy said his experience as an older college student has taught him that regardless of how long a senior citizen has been out of school, there is still something to learn.

“I urge all kids that drop out of high school at any age to get their GED because jobs nowadays are going high tech,” he said. “I found out that you work at a company for so long, but when they decide they don’t need you anymore, you’re out the door.

“But if you have a vocation, they can pay you for what you know and for something you like to do.”

© 2008 The Albany Herald/Triple Crown Media