A high school dropout who saw two of her sons quit school as teenagers has graduated from college with straight A`s. Janet Johnson, 43, of Wheaton, Md., earned a perfect 4.0 grade average and was valedictorian at Tuesday`s commencement for the School of Education at the University of Maryland.
”I can`t come down yet. It`s the highest point of my life so far,” she said Wednesday.
She had quit high school at age 16 to get married and have a family. Years later, she earned a high school equivalency degree.
Johnson worked as a teacher`s aide and secretary before deciding it wasn`t too late to try for a college degree in elementary education. She received an associate`s degree after attending night classes at Montgomery College in Rockville for three years.
”When I went to the University of Maryland, I won a $5,000 scholarship and all these wonderful things started happening,” she said. ”It`s been fabulous.”
Her two older children, ages 25 and 26, dropped out of high school but also received high school equivalency degrees.
Johnson has a contract with the Montgomery County school system to teach in an elementary school this fall.
