GRAMBLING, La. (KTVE/KARD) — A Monroe mother-daughter duo has experienced what they say for them is history in the making because besides sharing the same birthday, they will soon share the same stage.
“I didn’t know anything about college life,” the mother Suzzon Jiles said. “And I said, well, I’m gonna get up and go to college. I had no idea that I was gonna walk alongside my daughter. This is just history for both of us.”
For the 48-year-old mother of two, educating her children came first. Jiles graduated from high school at 29-years-old and she never expected to go back to school and pursue a degree in early childhood education, especially with all the challenges she faced.
“My daughter said, ‘Momma we’re doing this’, and to hear my daughter say, ‘We are doing it’, I kept going … studying all night,” Jiles said. “Sometimes going to bed at three or four in the morning while working and doing two jobs. It was stressful. But, I wouldn’t trade another day for it. I would do it again.”
According to her 21-year-old daughter Trinity Humphrey, who’s graduating in biology with dreams of becoming a dentist one day, their journey is one of a kind.
“My mom actually joined, I think, during her junior year. So, we just started the journey together,” Humphrey said. “And it’s been, with my mom, it’s been really really good. She was my mom and dad growing up. She took care of us.”
Humphrey said she can’t wait to give back to her mom.
“She paved the way for me really. She made sure I was good with everything,” Humphrey said. “If I told her I wanted to do something she made sure it was done.”
They both pushed each other to get where they are to follow their dreams.
“Hesitation holds you back,” Jiles said. “But you have to keep stern and keep pressing.”
Both Jiles and Humphrey will be graduating from Grambling State University on May 12, 2022.