ADELPHI, Md. — A promise that goes back 20 years ago was fulfilled Friday when a mother and her son graduated college together at the University of Maryland Global Campus.
When he was a little kid, Immanuel Patton made a promise to his mother, Carolyn Patton, to make sure she would get her degree at the same time he got his.
“When I was as young as kindergarten, I heard my mother talk about all these people getting college degrees,” Immanuel Patton said. “I said, ‘I will make sure you get your degree at the same time I get mine.’ I had to be a man of my word so, from kindergarten through middle school until now, that was a 20-year promise.”
The mom, Carolyn Patton, completed her bachelor's degree in humanities, and her son in public safety.
Carolyn Patton is using her degree to enhance her pay at Anne Arundel Community College. As for Immanuel Patton, he looking for new opportunities. He said he may want to get into academic advising himself because of all he learned while working with his mother to get their degrees.
The journey for the duo wasn't an easy one. There were times when one or the other would get discouraged and want to quit, but the two continued with the help of each other and their promise.
“The most important thing for my son and me is the driving force of our faith and our relationship with the Lord,” Carolyn said. “We pray together, we laugh together and we stick together as a family. That’s what drives us to excel in life.”
As a single mother, Carolyn Patton raised two children after having to move from Mississippi to Maryland when Carolyn's daughter was 5. The family has lived in Maryland ever since.
Carolyn Patton never eschewed high education, she tried on two occasions to complete a bachelor's degree program, but obstacles in her life got in the way, she said. Carolyn Patton got her first associate degree in electronic technology from a Mississippi community college and her second one from Anne Arundel Community College in transfer studies.
Immanuel Patton had his own problems getting started in higher education, but like his mother, he earned two associate's degrees from Anne Arundel, where both of them work.
One day, they decided to enroll at the UMGC and become cheerleaders for one another.
“Along the way, I had a meltdown and I said, ‘I just can't do it,’” Carolyn recalled. Her son told her she had to keep going. “He was my coach. He was very firm,” Carolyn said. When she balked, he was encouraging. “He said, ‘Mom, you are almost to the finish line.’ And so sure enough, August came and we were completing that last course.”
Immanuel Patton had his own rough start. His grade-point average dropped to a 1.0 and he found himself on academic probation.
With some help from UMGC's success coaches, who contacted him regularly, Immanuel Patton was able to figure out how to approach his classes.
His mother told him he had to get at least a 2.0-grade point average—and he did. “And then he took off,” Carolyn said, “making A’s and turning it into a 3.0.” The pair ended up with GPAs over 3.0., according to UMGC.
Fast forward to Friday, Carolyn Patton and Immanuel Patton walked across the stage and accepted their degrees from the president of the university.
"To actually see my mother walk across the stage while she smiles, trying to see all this up. It feels amazing," Immanuel Patton said.
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