AMERICA | 68-year-old woman whose teacher said will not graduate high school proves them wrong, emerges valedictorian at US university.
68 years old, Dorotea Levy de Szekely has defied the odds, emerging as the valedictorian of the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), New York—years after being told she would never graduate high school.
Now a grandmother of two, Dorotea earned an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts with a perfect 4.0 GPA, proving that determination knows no age limit. “Don’t let age be your cage. It’s never too late to chase your dreams,” she declared in her inspiring valedictory speech.
Dorotea grew up in Argentina, the daughter of a gynecologist father and a stay-at-home mother. However, her academic confidence was shattered at a young age when a first-grade teacher humiliated her in front of her classmates that she would not graduate.
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“It affected my self-esteem — I was scared to raise my hand. I admired those who went to college, but I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make it intellectually,” she recalled.
Instead of pursuing higher education, she took a job as a secretary at a petrochemical company while raising her three children with her husband. She later worked as a grade-school teacher but always felt the shame of not having a university degree.
In 2015, Dorotea moved to New York with a goal in mind: to finally go back to school. She believed the education system in South America was struggling, and she feared her age would be a barrier in countries like France or Germany.
Her inspiration came from her children, two of whom had pursued higher education in the United States while the third earned a master’s degree from London Business School.
“Education helps you grow and become more independent. You learn how to make your own choices, and professors listen to you,” she said, emphasizing that her studies would not have been possible outside the United States.
Settling in New York’s Upper East Side, she started by taking English courses at the International English Language Institute (IELI) at Hunter College. It was there that she learned about the City University of New York (CUNY) system.
With the help of her daughter, Denise (42), she applied to BMCC to officially begin her college journey.
At first, she admitted she was nervous about being in a classroom again. However, she excelled in Statistics, Western Civilization, and Creative Writing, achieving a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
Dorotea is now continuing her education at Hunter College, where she is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in English Language. Her ultimate goal is to write a children’s book. “‘Retiring,’ for me, is a bad word. When you’re alive, you have to live every single minute,” she said.
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