AMERICA| 88-year-old, Rene Neira and his 25-year-old granddaughter Melanie Salazar both graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio in the United States on the same day.
Melanie and her grandfather, Rene walked across the stage to accept their degrees during the 2022 University of Texas at San Antonio graduation. Melanie graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Communications while Rene earned a degree of recognition in Economics at the university.
“When we were on stage, I felt like I was overcome with emotion. Everything was silent. I didn’t hear any clapping or applause but I was told that the whole stadium erupted,” Melanie said.
Melanie told ABC News that she and her grandfather started the academic journey together in 2016. She said she had just graduated from high school and Rene, then 82, decided to take classes to fulfill his lifelong dream of earning his bachelor’s degree.
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Melanie’s grandfather wanted to further his studies after college in 1950, but he got married and started a family instead. Rene juggled his college classes with balancing his roles as a husband, a father of five, and a community activist, as well as his job at a local bank.
“Since the 1950s, he has been working toward his bachelor’s degree and it has been one of his life goals and dreams. But in the ’50s he fell in love and got married and started a family, so he wasn’t able to continue school right away,” she said.
Even though she and her grandfather did not attend classes together, they drove to school and studied together. Melanie added that she often helped her grandfather navigate doing schoolwork online
“We would get lunch together and be in the library together and just work silently side-by-side. There were also many times where I drove him to school during the seasons when he didn’t have his car,” Melanie said.
“I was also the president of a club at school for a while and there were times when he would come to my club meetings. That was really special because I could always show him off and shout out that my grandpa was there,” she added.
The academic journey was filled with challenges for Rene as he suffered a minor stroke and had to take a medical leave of absence from school.
She added that when the pandemic forced classes to be held online, Rene continued his leave of absence because of his health and the difficulty of navigating classes online.
Howeever when graduation was approaching, she and her family asked university officials to grant her grandfather a degree of recognition, which they did. According to Melanie, over the years, her grandfather’s health has been deteriorating, and they hoped he would be able to attend the graduation.
“It was the week of graduation that we were told that he would be able to graduate. We were really pushing for it because we were hoping since his health is declining, that he could have that memory before he passes,” she said.
Melanie credits her success to her grandfather’s lifelong love of learning keeping him feeling young and engaged in the world for so many years.
“I definitely have been inspired by my grandfather. Through hearing loss, not having a car, taking public transportation, advocating for himself on campus, I really admired his ganas, which is like strength or perseverance, to keep going no matter what,” she said.
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