The Gully-Cole graduates include father, Commondre Cole, 45, his son, Jacoby Cole, 25 and daughter Lesha Gully, 27.

Being an educator herself, Jessica Gully-Cole, wife and mother to the graduates, is the inspiration behind the decision to further their passion for education and obtain master’s degrees.

“The love and passion for it, you’ve got to have the love and passion,” Commondre told AtlantaBlackStar.

Commondre shared that his wife’s efforts to get him to pursue a career in the education field were intriguing.

“I used to work manufacturing jobs and all of that and she say you can always be off in the summertime if you were an educator,” Commondre said.

@commondrecolesrWe did that….🎓🎓🎓📜📜📜🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽♬ original sound – Coach Q

Jacoby ideally wanted to be a coach, with no teaching involved, but his mother insisted that coaching and teaching went hand-in-hand.

“I just wanted to coach, teach kids how to play baseball and things like that. Mom said you should just go into teaching because in order to be a coach, you need to be a teacher also, so she was like, ‘You might as well go ahead and get your education,” Jacoby said.

Jacoby currently works as a gym teacher for an elementary school in Mississippi.

Lesha strayed away from her mother’s education path on the other end. Instead, she studied criminal justice for a short period, becoming a server and a truck driver before her mother’s advice finally settled in.

“The pay from being a truck driver to being a schoolteacher was like, ‘I’m going to have to like this to keep going,’ and then when I jumped into it, I realized I loved doing it,” Lesha said.

@commondrecolesrMe and my kids….🎓🎓🎓📜📜📜🤞🏽🤞🏽..Yessir♬ original sound – Coach Q

Lesha currently teaches special needs children in second grade in Meridian, Mississippi.

Working as a family unit and having a friendly-family competition, they took a handful of classes together.

“It was almost like a competition, trying to have the highest GPA, have the highest grade on tests and assignments and the teachers would always point that out,” Lesha said.

“Some classes we were taking together and stuff like that and we can help each other keep up and we can tell each other such and such is due tomorrow at 11,” Commondre said.

“I know me and my dad were in a lot of groups together. We did a lot of group work on Zoom,” Jacoby added.

@commondrecolesrReal Talk…♬ original sound – Commondre Cole Sr.

Although Lesha could have finished a year before her father and brother, she decided to halt graduating without her family.

“My mom was like, ‘Are you going to graduate in the Spring of 2021, or are you going to wait on your brother and your dad?” Lesha said.

The graduates hope their family’s academic success will inspire others to go back to school and add to the inspirational Black graduates across the country.