Grandmother, 82, to complete undergraduate degree at U of T

Article content

You’re never too old to return to class.

Article content

Marion Gommerman is proof of that.

Article content

Article content

The 82-year-old Toronto resident, who lives at a retirement community in the Davenport neighbourhood, is back in school looking to complete an undergraduate degree she began decades ago.

Last year, Gommerman participated in the Intergenerational Classroom course offered by the University of Toronto, which seeks to address aging and ageism in post-secondary education.

Students taking the course spend time with residents at Christie Gardens where discussions include social isolation, dementia, purpose in later life, and end-of-life care as part of a collaboration between the retirement residence and U of T’s Health Studies Program, Institute for Life Course and Aging, and Office of Experiential Learning and Outreach Support.

Article content

Article content

She was so inspired by the experience and enjoyed the work that was being done that, instead of participating once again, she decided to actually enroll in the course.

“I’ll be a student working with the Christie Gardens participants [after] having worked as a Christie Gardens participant in the past,” Gommerman said.

“I need to put myself into the shoes of a student and think like students instead of an aging Christie Gardens participant that I was last year.”

The university said the intergenerational classroom approach also aims to break down age-associated boundaries around education that may deter many learners from returning to school.

Gommerman said her family was very supportive of her decision to become a full-time student once again.

Article content

“There was no pressure, there was no, ‘You should do this or you shouldn’t do this.’ Just complete support,” she said.

For Gommerman, there is no need to travel to the university’s downtown campus this semester as the work being done will be centred at the retirement home, one class a week until November with plenty of readings, essays, and exams. She is also taking some course electives.

Gommerman said her first experience attending a post-secondary school occurred three decades ago when she enrolled at McMaster University in Hamilton to further her education, initially taking psychology, economics and philosophy courses.

She then registered and was accepted in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the university. However, she eventually determining that completing her education would be a difficult task.

Article content

“I went into that program but I didn’t feel I wanted to stay with it because it was so intense. I’m very much a family person, and even at the first part of the first-year course, I was really losing touch with my family.”

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Gommerman said she would leave for classes at 7 a.m. and wouldn’t return home until 7 p.m. during the week. She would then continue her studies in the evening and weekends and would barely be around her family even as they supported her decision to attend university.

“So I decided to leave the program. It was a very difficult decision, but my family came first. … It was something that I just couldn’t visualize myself going through four years with the type of scheduling that would keep me away from them for that long.”

Article content

Gommerman’s return to class will be a family affair as her grandson, Sam Griffin, will also be attending U of T this semester as a freshman in the jazz program, an aspiring bass player.

“When we realized that we were going to be enrolling at the same time, it was kind of funny,” she said, adding that they will be keeping in touch and hanging out a bit during the school year as first-year students.

Her daughter, Dr. Jen Grommermanis a professor at U of T and a Canada research chair in tissue specific immunity.

One thing Gommerman said she may find difficult to manage is being a student while also having a large age gap with her fellow classmates.

“I have to start thinking as a student now and walk in the students’ shoes,” she said. “Put myself out of that aged person that I was part of in the program last year. I have to start thinking about how a student is feeling in agism.”

But Gommerman said she will figure out how to adapt along the way.

“It’s different than just going in as a mature student and having other students there with you. I’m reversing my total position. It’s going to take some work for me to start thinking differently.”

Article content