95 Year-old Kansan to Become World's Oldest College Graduate

Nola Ochs is a student at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas. Like many students, she looks forward to graduating and receiving her degree on May 12. But when she does, Ochs, at age ninety-five, will become what many believe is the world's oldest person to receive a college degree. The current record, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, belongs to Mozelle Richardson, who was awarded a degree in journalism at the age of 90 in 2004.

The Associated Press reports that Ochs' general studies degree will finish the most recent chapter of a lifelong love of learning. The native Kansan loved to learn during her teenage years living on a farm in Hodgeman County. She taught at a one-room school for a while after graduating high school.

Her desire to learn continued after becoming a wife and a mother of four sons, one of which died in 1995. Ochs has thirteen grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren. Her granddaughter, Alexandra, will graduate with her next month.

Ochs began studying at Dodge City Community College following the death of Vernon Ochs, her husband of thirty-nine years, in 1972. Over the years, she has taken classes off and on. Then when she discovered she was close to having enough credit hours to complete an undergraduate degree, she decided to go ahead and work toward that goal.

History department chairman Todd Leahy had Ochs in four classes, and he wants to record oral histories with her after she graduates. During discussions of historical events, Ochs has offered personal recollections of the dust bowl of the 1930's, and also spoke about Kansas farmers, including her husband and herself, growing soybeans for the war effort during World War II. Leahy told the AP that having her in his class has presented a firsthand perspective to these events that is very rare. "She often adds color to the face of history," he added.

Even with a college degree, Nola Ochs is still a farm girl at heart. Following graduation, Ochs looks forward to returning home to help with the wheat harvest, something she has done each year throughout her life. She told the AP she may travel after the harvest is done, or she may continue her pursuit of learning by taking classes at a community college.