This new grad is celebrating with a post-college ceremony of passage — a niche yr — solely she’s doing it in her 70s.
At 74, Dorotea Levy de Szekely — grandmother of three and self-proclaimed lifelong learner — simply graduated with a bachelor’s diploma from Hunter School, proving it’s by no means too late to hit the books or rewrite your personal story.
“My motto has at all times been, ‘Don’t let age be your cage,’” the witty Higher East Sider informed The Submit, strolling in Hunter’s 228th graduation on the Barclays Middle on Friday, alongside greater than 3,300 grads.
Born and raised in Argentina, the fashionable silver scholar had a decades-long detour earlier than snagging her diploma.
After a merciless trainer within the first grade informed her she’d “by no means” end highschool on account of a studying incapacity, Levy de Szekely averted faculty totally, regardless of an unshakable love for studying and a longing to pursue greater training.
“You at all times study, and I labored my life in the direction of that verdict,” she informed The Submit. “However each time I walked by a college, I felt this disappointment and longing inside, as I wished to go there and study.
“Fortunately, right here at Hunter School in New York Metropolis, that is the one place on this planet I feel that welcomed me, however my age or who I’m.”
Her faculty comeback started in 2017, when she enrolled on the Borough of Manhattan Group School and earned her affiliate’s diploma in 2019 with a flawless 4.0 GPA because the co-valedictorian of her class.
Then got here Hunter, the place she racked up a 3.98 GPA, triple majored in German Language and Literature, English (with a focus in Artistic Writing), and Studio Artwork — and made BFFs greater than half her age.
One among them, a 20-year-old classmate named Babsi, is “youthful than my granddaughter,” Levy de Szekely famous — and but, they’ve turn into such shut buddies that Babsi got here to cheer her on at commencement and even arrange a WhatsApp video name so a classmate in Pakistan may watch, too.
“I assumed this was very shifting,” a delighted Levy de Szekely stated.
After the ceremony, which might even be attended by her proud youngsters and grandchildren, the brainy besties deliberate to have a good time with burgers at UES hotspot, JG Melon.
Levy de Szekely’s ardour for individuals — and prose — formed her faculty expertise.
“For me, it’s so necessary to look you within the eye and know who you’re,” she defined. “Typically it comes throughout as if you happen to’re nosy or curious, however I’m at all times very within the human being who’s sitting throughout from me … being much less ignorant concerning the different particular person makes you extra compassionate.
“I made nice connections at Hunter as a result of I’m at all times asking everybody, you recognize, ‘Who’re you, what motivates you, the place are you from?’”
It wasn’t simply fellow college students who made an influence — professors left their mark, too, particularly those that helped nurture her love of literature.
“I really like artistic writing and historical past … There’s so many issues,” she stated, revealing the brainy books and topics she devoured.
“Like, we had been studying Franz Kafka in German and learning the issues that come up when translating it to English or some other language,” she recalled. “That’s, I feel, one thing very attention-grabbing.”
Her literary tastes skew philosophical and are particularly impressed by early Twentieth-century Austrian writer Stefan Zweig.
“He stated one thing that caught in my thoughts — that historical past decides for you,” Levy de Szekely informed The Submit, including that Zweig’s writing resonates along with her because it proves that even the smallest decisions can form the course of historical past.
Now, as a substitute of backpacking by means of Europe like many Gen Z grads, Levy de Szekely is taking a “hole yr” her personal means — by devouring books on her personal time.
Levy de Szekely, who speaks an astonishing 4 languages — Spanish, English, German and “some French” — later plans to tutor in Hunter’s German division and prep for a grasp’s diploma in English at CUNY’s Lehman School or Hunter.
“I might like to pursue a Grasp’s in English,” she stated, admitting, ‘I’d love for it to be artistic writing, however it’s going to be tough.”
She’s even dabbling in fairytale rewrites — together with a contemporary tackle “Little Pink Driving Hood” that honors “highly effective ladies.”
One factor’s for certain: she’s not slowing down.
Neglect Sudoku, too — Levy de Szekely says everlasting curiosity and an open thoughts are all it’s essential hold the psychological gears turning at any age.
“As I say, studying is a journey. It’s a life journey. So it’s important to study,” she defined with a touch of philosophy. “In life, you can not dwell with out studying, even if you happen to don’t know that you simply’re studying.”
Or, as her father used to inform her: “The day I can not study one thing anymore, I might be lifeless.”
Clearly, this grandma’s simply getting began.
