A mother who put her academic pursuits on hold is now graduating college alongside her two daughters, as well as her son who will be graduating from high school. However, the celebratory moment is bittersweet.
Twenty-six years after Kendra Butler dropped out to help raise her family and support her husband, she’s on the path to becoming a certified therapist, WSOC-TV reports.
Butler said her degree has “opened my eyes to the grief and the trauma that people can experience.”
The North Carolina mom said she was inspired to go back to school after she lost her eldest daughter, Joselyn, to suicide in 2015.
A 2018 study discovered that Black children between the ages of 5 and 12 are about twice as likely to die by suicide as their white counterparts of the same age, Washington Post reports.
A new study found that suicide rates for Black children and adolescents have worsened between 2003 and 2017, especially among Black girls.
Butler also experienced difficulties while earning her associate degree from Central Piedmont Community College. She lost her father to COVID-19 and overcame a personal health condition.
However, despite the numerous hurdles, Butler prevailed and finally realized her dream.
“It was deferred for a little while but it didn’t mean it was denied and that it wasn’t going to happen,” she said.
Butler’s hard work earned her a purple graduation cord that she will wear when she walks at graduation, which symbolizes her high GPA. She will also share the spotlight with her youngest daughter, Erin, who is graduating from CPCC and wants to become a dentist.
Butler’s other daughter, Angel, will graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and her son, David, will graduate from Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology in June.
And even though her eldest daughter has passed away, Erin said she believes her sister Joselyn would be pleased with her family’s academic achievements.
“I think she would like to see we’re all doing what we like to do,” Erin said.
