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Not your average graduand
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June 2, 2003
Andrea Parker readily admits that she is a little different from many SFU graduates. The single mother is older than most grads, entering SFU when she was 37 and graduating as a grandmother at the age of 41.
And her marks are well above average, having won the dean’s medal for the highest undergraduate marks in the school of business graduating class – a 4.04 grade point average out of a possible 4.33.
"I started at University of Victoria after high school, but I got married and had kids and wasn’t able to continue," she says.
However, as a single mother with two teenaged daughters she found it difficult to survive on the $22,000 she was able to earn doing clerical work, so she decided to return to school.
"It was a scary decision," she recalls. "I had a fear of failure, but I knew I couldn’t survive on what I what I was doing. I was able to get student loans and combine that with the money I earned in the co-op program to help me through. Surprisingly, the loan hasn’t been a burden."
Along the way, she picked up a companion for her drive to school from Cloverdale – her eldest daughter entered the SFU communication program two years ago.
As a result of one of her co-op placements, Andrea is now working at Deloitte and Touche in Langley while studying for her upcoming chartered accountancy exams.
"I loved school and I treated it just like a job. It turned out not to be as scary as I thought," she says.
Her nine-month-old grandson, her two daughters and parents from Golden will all be on hand at the June convocation ceremony to help celebrate as Andrea picks up the rewards of a job well done: a dean’s medal and business degree.
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Contact
Andrea Parker, 604.576.3998
Carol Thorbes, Media & PR, 604.291.3035; cthorbes@sfu.ca
And her marks are well above average, having won the dean’s medal for the highest undergraduate marks in the school of business graduating class – a 4.04 grade point average out of a possible 4.33.
"I started at University of Victoria after high school, but I got married and had kids and wasn’t able to continue," she says.
However, as a single mother with two teenaged daughters she found it difficult to survive on the $22,000 she was able to earn doing clerical work, so she decided to return to school.
"It was a scary decision," she recalls. "I had a fear of failure, but I knew I couldn’t survive on what I what I was doing. I was able to get student loans and combine that with the money I earned in the co-op program to help me through. Surprisingly, the loan hasn’t been a burden."
Along the way, she picked up a companion for her drive to school from Cloverdale – her eldest daughter entered the SFU communication program two years ago.
As a result of one of her co-op placements, Andrea is now working at Deloitte and Touche in Langley while studying for her upcoming chartered accountancy exams.
"I loved school and I treated it just like a job. It turned out not to be as scary as I thought," she says.
Her nine-month-old grandson, her two daughters and parents from Golden will all be on hand at the June convocation ceremony to help celebrate as Andrea picks up the rewards of a job well done: a dean’s medal and business degree.
-30-
Contact
Andrea Parker, 604.576.3998
Carol Thorbes, Media & PR, 604.291.3035; cthorbes@sfu.ca