Mother and Daughter Graduate Together

Photo: Julie Johnson/Facebook

Nearly 20 years after Julie Johnson dropped out of college to raise her little girl, the mom and daughter graduated from Troy University in Dothan, Alabama together. “It was a wonderful surprise,” the 41-year-old – who received her master’s degree in criminal justice Sunday at the same ceremony where the daughter, Samantha Floyd, 21, got her associate’s degree in criminal justice – tells Yahoo Parenting. “I told Samantha, ‘I can wait and graduate in May so I don’t take away from your special day,’ but she said, ‘No, I want to graduate with you.’”

Floyd tells Yahoo Parenting that she wouldn’t have had it any other way: “It meant the world to me that we got to experience this together.”

The journey has been a long one for both the Headland, Alabama natives. “We struggled financially to pay for it,” says Floyd, who worked two jobs, as a waitress and at a local hospital, while pursuing her degree full-time. “And it was hard to find time to study. I’d have to write research papers at midnight. But my mom kept telling me, Keep your eye on graduation. You can do it. Just knowing that she was there for me, I knew I could. Still when we waked across that stage, it was a huge relief.” 

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Johnson was just 19 years old when she welcomed Floyd with her then husband, from whom she split six years later. She got an associate degree from Wallace Community College in 1994 and enrolled at Troy University a year later, at age 20, but left after two semesters. “I couldn’t do it,” she says. “I was working 40 hours a week as a secretary and Samantha was basically being raised in daycare from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. I couldn’t see then that in the blink of an eye I’d graduate. I was so young, I just couldn’t handle being away from her so much.” 

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Johnson with Floyd in 1993. Photo: Julie Johnson/Facebook

The breaking point came when Samantha called her grandmother, “mom.” “My parents kept care of Samantha two days and nights a week so I could do my class at night,” says Johnson. “Then one day when I went to pick her up, Samantha looked at my mother and said, ‘Bye momma, I love you see you tomorrow.’ It broke my heart and that was it.”

Johnson quit school. She got a job, raised her little girl, and had another daughter, now 15. “I know I didn’t go down the right road,” she says. “But we never wanted. I’ve been a house cleaner for 12 years and I work hard.” And she doesn’t regret her choices. “I wanted to get Samantha on and off the school bus,” she explains. “I wanted to see that she was taken care of, and I did.”

The idea of going back to college just didn’t come up, until her eldest graduated high school in 2011. At that point Johnson explains, “I realized that I had lived for my children for 18 years and it was time for me to do something for myself.”

She re-enrolled in Troy University and buckled down, big time. The mom earned her master’s degree just three years after she began pursuing her B.A.. “I don’t have that traditional family with the husband at home,” explains Johnson. “I clean houses in the morning and I’m free in the afternoon. Why would I sit in front of the TV then when I can be getting an education?”

Photo: Julie Johnson/Facebook

She did her classes online and jokes, “Samantha probably would have been embarrassed to be in a classroom with me anyway.”

But Floyd has plenty to be proud of when it comes to her mom, now pursuing a job that pairs her experience with her education.

“I’d really like to work with teen girls, perhaps in counseling to help them prevent getting pregnant,” says Johnson. “And help them find programs, a mentor and parenting classes if they do.”

She wants to offer up her life as lesson. “I always say, life isn’t about the mistakes you make,” the mom declares. “It’s about making the right choices when you can.”