January 30, 2025
60-year-Old Graduates With Bachelor’s From Alabama A&M University
Brooks said his mother was with him every step of the way as he worked to complete his bachelor's degree at Alabama A&M.
For Allen Brooks, working full-time and going to school was tough but determined to fulfill a promise to his late mother, the 60-year-old Brewton, Alabama, native returned to Alabama A&M University and completed his bachelor’s degree over three decades after leaving the school in 1986.
Brooks officially became a college graduate in December 2024 after he completed a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies with a concentration in business management from Alabama A&M. “It was tough. The classes [were] tough. I was still working eight hours a day and going to school, but it was worth it,” Brooks told ABC‘s Good Morning America.
The 2024 grad initially enrolled at Alabama A&M in 1982. On a partial band scholarship, Brooks said he was only committed to the band and allowed his grades to drop while he attended the HBCU in Huntsville. “…After a while, I got to a point where I had to leave school,” he said. “Things [came] up, and then I had to get a real job to support myself.” Brooks left Alabama A&M in 1986 and started a family. As he moved along with his life, his mother, Sarah Pearl Brooks, always wished for him to return to school and complete his studies. Brooks made a promise to his mother, “I said, ‘Mom, one day, I’m going to do it,'” he recalled. In 2020, he returned to enroll at Alabama A&M to complete his bachelor’s. Brooks said he juggled his courses while working a full-time job.
Brooks’ daughter, Brionna Washington, is proud of her father’s accomplishment. “He is the epitome of walking in YOUR purpose and not FOR SOCIETY!” she captioned a video on TikTok of the family supporting Brooks on graduation day. Moved to tears, family members held up signs to represent Brooks’ mother, who died as her son completed his final course.
Pearl Brooks died in July, months ahead of her son’s graduation ceremony for his bachelor’s degree.
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