This will just make your heart melt and your eyes well up with tears.
Somehow, through pure coincidence, sophomore biology major Carla Wilkinson managed to sign up for the same classes at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as her own grandmother, Holly Wilkinson, 87, who wants to finally finish college. Not only that, but on every homework assignment in any class, Carla wipes the floor with her grandmother when it comes to grades and lesson comprehension.
“It’s just so touching to see Carla taking classes and completely surpassing her own grandma in intelligence, speed and productivity,” said freshman chemistry major Sam Lowden, a classmate in the Wilkinsons’ LIFE 120 section.
The uplifting, tiered power relationship between Carla and Holly, with Carla being the clearly superior student and Holly being the much more inferior student, has become a gratifying experience for everyone.
“Aw, I’m so happy to see them,” said sophomore astronomy major Christina Ziehl as she saw Carla burning through a worksheet while Holly was still on the first problem.
Carla and Holly have also heartened other students with their own aging relatives attending college alongside them.
“Before, I figured that I’d slow down a bit, breath, stick with my grandpa, and work together with him on assignments,” said senior engineering major Jeff Reagan, whose grandfather, 76-year-old Jeff Reagan, Sr., still uses a typewriter to write essays. “After a while, though, I realized that we needed to be like the Wilkinsons. So I just leave my grandpa in the dust. It’s for the best, really.”
Though Carla thought going to college with her grandma would be strange, she’s come to enjoy it.
“I’m just happy to be here in college with so many good people and my grandma, whom I love so much,” Carla said as she logged on Blackboard for an online quiz. Holly, who was deep in thought in trying to navigate to the Log-In page, was unable to comment.