This 101-year-old man received his high school diploma after 80 years!

Image: Southern Living

What happened: On March 19, Merrill Pittman Cooper, a 101 year-old student at Storer College in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, from 1934 to 1938, finally got his high school certificate after more than 80 years of waiting. Cooper dropped school during his senior year when his family moved to Philadelphia for financial concerns, according to a statement from Jefferson County Schools. The history: According to the US National Park Service, Storer College was founded in 1865 to serve newly freed slaves in the aftermath of the Civil War. The institution was one of West Virginia’s only educational options for black inhabitants. Before closure in the mid-1950s, it serviced almost 7,000 pupils. Cooper majored in Latin, biology, history, English, and mathematics in college. The present: Cooper visited the school, which is now part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, in 2018, after a long and successful career in the transportation industry. He voiced his remorse to family members for not receiving a diploma there. What happened next: On March 19, his family contacted park staff, who collaborated with local, regional, and state partners to celebrate the centenarian with a ceremony and a diploma. The West Virginia Department of Education, Jefferson County Schools, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Storer College National Alumni Association, and the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park collaborated together to make this happen. 

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