Pa. woman, 84, gets bachelor's degree

The university gave the East Franklin Township grandmother 30 credits for her nursing experience.
INDIANA, Pa. (AP) -- Now that she's a college graduate, Alda Smith expects plenty of job offers -- until employers find out how old she is.
The 84-year-old grandmother from East Franklin Township received a bachelor's degree in nursing from Indiana University of Pennsylvania at a graduation ceremony last weekend.
Smith, a 1945 graduate of Montefiore Hospital School of Nursing, realizes her job prospects are limited. But it's not for lack of experience; she worked for decades as a nurse.
In 2002, she decided to go back to school.
G.P.A above 3.0
"Over the years, I thought about getting my bachelor's in nursing degree, but there were too many things going on," she said. "Family was my first priority."
Smith was married for 58 years until her husband, John, died in 2000. She has five children and 13 grandchildren.
Over the past four years, she has attended classes at IUP's Armstrong County campus as part of a program for experienced nurses, maintaining a grade point average above 3.0.
Smith said her favorite academic subject was literature and that pharmacology was the most difficult.
The university gave Smith 30 credits for her nursing experience, which includes stints at Allegheny Valley Hospital and Armstrong County Memorial Hospital.
"I could never work in a hospital with all of the new technology," she told the Kittaning Leader Times. "Computers? We don't talk about that."
Joins granddaughter
Smith is only the second person in her family to graduate from college. She has a granddaughter who also has graduated from college.
At graduation, Smith was given individual roses by each of her 10 classmates.
"When I went up there in my cap and gown, I think I was sort of numb," she said. "It felt good. It was wonderful."
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