A 99-year-old woman in New Mexico has finally achieved what many take for granted: getting a high school diploma. Unci Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance had just graduated from the eighth grade and was ready for high school when her dad told her that her mom was ill. “He said, ‘You’re not going back to school,'” Rita recalled. She had to put her schooling on hold so she could take care of her ill mother. “I just put my head down. I didn’t say anything,” Rita said in an interview. She didn’t say anything until she found Grandmother Flordemayo, a spiritual healer. She and Flordemayo would talk every day and then talk about the chapter Rita never finished. “She was still talking about how she never got her diploma,” said Flordemayo. “Every time I see her, she talks about them.”With the help of a group and Rita’s family in New Mexico, she was finally able to achieve what she thought was out of reach: earning her diploma. The superintendent of Rio Rancho Schools, V. Sue Cleveland, said she thinks this is a moment that will stick with her students. “I hope they saw how what a momentous event this was to witness something like this, to hear that news, like to hear that prayer,” said Cleveland.
RIO RANCHO, N.M. —
A 99-year-old woman in New Mexico has finally achieved what many take for granted: getting a high school diploma.
Unci Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance had just graduated from the eighth grade and was ready for high school when her dad told her that her mom was ill.
“He said, ‘You’re not going back to school,'” Rita recalled.
She had to put her schooling on hold so she could take care of her ill mother.
“I just put my head down. I didn’t say anything,” Rita said in an interview.
She didn’t say anything until she found Grandmother Flordemayo, a spiritual healer. She and Flordemayo would talk every day and then talk about the chapter Rita never finished.
“She was still talking about how she never got her diploma,” said Flordemayo. “Every time I see her, she talks about them.”
With the help of a group and Rita’s family in New Mexico, she was finally able to achieve what she thought was out of reach: earning her diploma.
The superintendent of Rio Rancho Schools, V. Sue Cleveland, said she thinks this is a moment that will stick with her students.
“I hope they saw how what a momentous event this was to witness something like this, to hear that news, like to hear that prayer,” said Cleveland.