A look around the floor of Mount Royal University’s convocation on Friday would have yielded many bright-eyed students eager to begin their career journey with history degrees in hand.
But David Jackson has a different story.
“I’m just a kid. I’m just a kid learning.”
At 76 years old, Jackson walked the stage with his peers — some of them young enough to be his grandchildren.
It fulfilled an 18-year journey that started with a single math class in 2007.
“I sat in for one class … it was hopelessly boring,” Jackson laughed.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to take something fun and interesting,’ so I landed on history.”
Jackson earned his parchment at a much slower pace than most of his peers, taking one class a semester.
But along the way, he inspired nearly everyone he ran into — be it faculty or students 50 years his junior.
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“History is a program that a lot of students will take to fulfil their general education requirements,” explained MRU associate history professor Scott Murray.
“David took it because he loved it. And you can see that in the number of courses he took.”
Fellow graduate Simon Weintz is 25 years old but had no problem striking up a bond with his elder classmate.
“He definitely had an older perspective. Given the age gap, that’s just going to be natural,” Weintz said.
“But he was always willing to admit when he was wrong. He was always willing to learn new things.”
“Students work so hard,” Jackson said. “They’re so friendly. I often connect with one or two, we exchange cellphone numbers. If I have a problem, I consult them. If they have a problem, they consult me.”
When asked what changed the most between his first university degree in the mid-1970s and this one, Jackson answered quickly.
“Technology. It just marches on,” he said.
“My third class back … I used artificial intelligence for my paper. I didn’t ask artificial intelligence to write the paper, but I asked it questions. I took out what I wanted, cited it, and moved on to the next question in the essay. I love AI.”
As Jackson received his diploma on Friday, the gym at Mount Royal was filled with deafening applause.
But it’s not the final moment in Jackson’s life-long passion for knowledge.
He’ll be back at Mount Royal this fall, beginning an anthropology degree and, after 16 more classes, he plans to walk across the stage once again as part of the class of 2034.
“More than one person has said to me, ‘My dad’s just sitting around the house doing nothing, he should take a class.’ I totally agree. And Mount Royal University is the place to do it.”
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