At age 72, Dorrie April Adlard didn’t envision this day.
She’s one of 647 students who earned degrees Friday in the outdoor ceremony. She’s also the oldest.
The Lowell resident said she spent her early education days in the “slow” group at her Dolton, Illinois, elementary school, struggling with dyslexia.
She retired from a job as a surgical aid in Crown Point Franciscan Hospital in 2015 and came to IUN in 2018 to take a few classes. Friday, she received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.
“I didn’t really have a major and they said, ‘Would you like a degree?’ And I thought about it and I thought, why not? I wanted to be an example for my grandchildren.”
She credited help from TRIO, a 1965 federal act that supports low-income, first-generation families, underrepresented students and students with disabilities.
IU-Northwest assisted with accommodations for her dyslexia.
Along the way, she made friends with two 23-year-old classmates who helped navigate tricky computer programs.
Now, Adlard said she’s bound for graduate school at IU Northwest.
Hearing her name called and wearing the cap and gown put everything into perspective.
“I was in the dumb class when I was a child…. So for me, this is the best day of my life, besides having my children.”
Outgoing student body president Maha Alshamaileh, of Munster, delivered the welcome to her fellow graduates in Arabic, acknowledging her immigrant parents from Jordan.
She said her time at IU Northwest forged her identity.
“As a child of immigrants, like many of my peers here today, I came into college asking some pretty big questions about myself, like who am I? What do I call home and how do I carry that home with me?”
Alshamaileh is now studying to be a physician assistant at Butler University. The program has already begun and she needed a letter from IU President Pamela Whitten to attend Friday’s commencement.
Alshamaileh still ponders her heritage and future.
“In this new chapter of my life, is home the town that I grew up in Munster, Indiana, or is it the country that my family comes from — the cultures and traditions that bring me joy, the language that brings me comfort.”
She found her classmates, all from different backgrounds, asked the same questions.
They persevered together, she said. “I truly had the privilege of watching people show up for each other.”
They hung on through unexpected blizzards, bad grades, and boring lectures, “even when the world around us told us that our education would not serve us.”
“We are not the same people who walked into those doors or those doors a couple years ago, but luckily, that’s the whole point.”
A large family contingent from LaPorte came to watch Abbie Tomblin receive her bachelor’s degree in education.
Holding back tears of pride, her mom, Holly Tomblin, said her daughter already has a job teaching fourth grade in Tri-Township Schools in Wanatah.
Abbie’s grandparents Judy and Gary Huffman came from Virginia to watch her big day.
Marianne Davidson, the family’s former neighbor and “adopted” grandmother, proudly looked on, as well. “I think they did pretty well,” she said of the Tomblins.
Devon Burnett, 23, of Gary, a business administration major, already has a job, too.
He works at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Hobart.
The Andrean graduate said he hopes to move up the ladder at Dick’s into management.
He attended high school and college with friend Trey Adams, 22, of Schererville. They played basketball together at Andrean.
A business major, Adams has a job in human resources at CorePlacement Personnel Services in Crown Point.
“I was an intern for a month, and then I got hired. I start working full-time on Tuesday,” he said.
Some commencement facts provided by IU Northwest spokeswoman Emily Banas include:
•Friday’s youngest graduate is 19 and the oldest is 72.
•74% of graduates are female
•The most popular degree is a bachelor’s in nursing.
•Of all the IU campuses, IU Northwest has the highest percentage of first-generation college students at 30%, the most underrepresented persons of color at 49%, and the most graduates 25 years or older at 46%.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
