Mom and Daughter To Graduate Together

Not many moms and their daughters have the opportunity to graduate from college together, but this month, Marlene Ramos and her daughter Andrea Ramos will end their PCCC journey in the same ceremony.

“It’s wonderful to graduate together,” said Marlene who completed her Associate in Arts in Liberal Arts/Sociology last Fall.  Her daughter agrees. “We didn’t have any classes together, but we will receive our diplomas together,” said Andrea who completed her Associate in Arts in Liberal Arts/Humanities this spring.

For Marlene, this graduation represents a victory after years of challenges toward achieving a college education. Originally from Peru, Marlene enjoyed a career in Lima as an official tour guide. “It was my passion. It was a beautiful career,” she said.

But then her health interfered and Marlene no longer had the stamina to continue as a tour guide. “I was only 18, so I went to the university in Peru to study law,” she explained, but that path met a detour when Marlene left Peru and came to the U.S. for personal reasons.

While working as a nurse assistant and caring for her daughter, Marlene tried to resume college in 2007, but when her second daughter was born, she stopped again. “It was too hard to go to school and take care of my daughters at the same time.”   

It wasn’t until 2020 that Marlene thought seriously about college again. “That was during the pandemic when the world stopped, but I also stopped… to think about myself.”  She enrolled at PCCC, beginning with the ESL program to improve her English language skills, and has been on track with college since then.  

“What I love most about PCCC is that it was always empowering,” said Marlene. “Whenever I felt discouraged and told professors that I felt old, they told me I wasn’t too old and to just keep going.”  

Andrea agrees with Marlene about the empowerment of PCCC.  Initially indecisive about her career path, Andrea started her higher education at a different college, studying art, but when she changed to PCCC, she was impressed by what she experienced here.

 “I owe everything to my PCCC professors,” she says, naming history professors Petar Drakulich and Martha Brozyna as major influences. “They gave good lessons in their subjects and good life lessons when they tell you to keep going forward. Don’t give up.”

Andrea said she is “proud to be in this country for all the opportunities here” and is grateful for community colleges.  “Growing up, the world often tries to pull you down, but here at PCCC people want to lift you up.”

Employed in facility management at the Board of Education in her hometown, Andrea has had experience teaching children with mental disabilities, but her goal now is to “work within the system to improve education for children.”

Marlene also hopes to work in a role where she can support and assist children. Both mother and daughter plan to continue their education toward a bachelor’s degree at either Montclair State University or William Paterson University.

“Wherever we go, we will always be grateful to PCCC,” said Marlene. On this subject, mother and daughter are in firm agreement.   

Learn more about Liberal Arts/Sociology and Liberal Arts/Humanities programs at PCCC

Written by Linda Telesco
Photos by Page Saunders