Mother, Son Share Graduation Year

By Tanjua Damon

The Robinson family has double the celebration this graduation year. Mother Donna graduated from Northeastern University June 16, while son, Dana, received his high school diploma from Newtown High School Tuesday night.

The two see it as an especially poignant time in that it came about because of a tragedy long ago.

Mrs Robinson was attending Northeastern University in the mid-1970s studying journalism when she and her friends took a trip to Rhode Island to see about getting internships at a television station. During that trip, a drunk driver crossed four lanes of traffic and hit her car, killing one passenger and seriously injuring Mrs Robinson and a friend.

“Instead of getting the jobs,” she said, “we became the news.”

Because of the accident, Mrs Robinson was unable to finish her degree. But just over a year ago Gail LeClerc and Jim Ross of Northeastern University made it their mission to get Mrs Robinson back into school so she could finish what she started over 25 years ago. The university went back through and figured out which classes Mrs Robinson would need to meet the graduation requirements.

“It was scary. It meant so many different changes,” Mrs Robinson said. “The fear of not being able to do a good job at school. It was difficult to learn how to study and write papers again.”

It took Mrs Robinson only a year to finish her degree, finishing six classes and walking across the stage to receive the degree she started years ago. She received a bachelor of science in journalism with her two sons, Mason and Dana, and husband, Jeffrey, cheering her on.

“It was really wonderful,” she said. “It really was a point of going full circle.”

Mrs Robinson, humble and modest, looks at the achievement as something she had to do in life just like many other people who strive to accomplish their goals.

“It’s just my life. And you really just do what you need to do for yourself,” Mrs Robinson said. “It’s me sort of slugging through life.”

One thing is for sure: Mrs Robinson wanted to finish her degree before her sons.

“I was not going to let my kids graduate before I did,” she said with a smile. “Competition rears its head.”

Dana graduated from Newtown High School Tuesday night. After he received his diploma, he walked back to his seat with a grin of satisfaction and with the confidence to begin the next journey. He will be heading off to the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania in the fall to study computer engineering.

With mom off at school, Dana had to get used to things being different since she was not home.

“It took a lot of getting used to,” he said. “Just things you would normally expect to be done weren’t getting done.”

He is glad his mother was able to fulfill her dream.

“It’s kind of weird. I don’t know, it’s just something she wanted to do,” Dana said. “That was cool to get to see her get up and get the degree.”

Mother and son are set to begin their next adventures, finding a job and going off to college. But Mrs Robinson offers that beginning happy is one way to live life to its fullest.

“He just has to be happy to begin with. He really has to pursue what he wants,” she said. “And you just don’t let anything get in your way. If it’s important to you, you just have to go out and do it.”