Polk State is a family affair for the Andersons, who will celebrate graduation on May 2

Most study groups meet in the library or at a local café, but the Andersons can study in the comfort of their own home because mom, dad, and daughter are all enrolled at Polk State College.

On May 2, Sharon and Gregory Anderson will graduate with the College’s 130th class — Sharon with her Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education and Gregory with his Associate in Arts degree.

Motivated to show her children that they can do anything at any age, Sharon Anderson enrolled in Polk State’s Associate in Science in Early Childhood Education and Management Program in 2016 to elevate her 20-year career in childcare.

“I’ve been working in childcare since I graduated high school and wanted to make sure that I had myself educated so that I could help educate young children,” Anderson said. “I also decided to go back to school because of my kids.”

This not only motivated her daughter, Jordyn, to dual enroll at Polk State; it also encouraged her husband, Gregory, to go back to school after many years to complete his Associate in Arts degree.

“I’m very proud that my wife is finishing her degree, and I am also very proud of how she has been able to motivate our family,” Gregory Anderson said. “Seeing my wife walk across the graduation stage is going to make me extremely proud.”

Their daughter echoed this sentiment about her parents.

“I am incredibly proud of them because I know how much work it has taken them to even make the commitment to go back to college,” Jordyn Anderson said. “I could not be more happy to see them walk across the stage.”

The Andersons have helped each other along the way.

“We have had [some] of the same teachers. We all do our [home]work at the same time, and if we have any questions about a class.., we can ask each other and help each other study,” Jordyn Anderson said.”

Sharon Anderson said that in addition to the support of her family, Polk State’s professors and advisors provided her with the guidance and resources she needed to reach graduation.

“The professors – they are one of a kind. The [advisors] – they are one of a kind,” she said. “They communicate with you, they help you with everything, and they push you to be a better student.”

She added that Polk State is the local, affordable option that has a “hometown feel – they treat you like family.”

While mom and dad will graduate on May 2, daughter Jordyn will complete one more year of dual enrollment as an incoming senior at Winter Haven High School before graduating in May 2024.

“It will mean so much as a family to see everybody walk across that stage and to know that we did it — we did it together,” Sharon Anderson said. “To have this accomplishment and to know that they are proud of me just means so much.”