Mae Beale, an 82-year-old woman from Maryland, recently graduated and received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland Global Campus, fulfilling a lifelong dream of hers.
Mae Beale walked across the stage to receive her diploma from the University of Maryland Global Campus on Wednesday, May 18th, according to WJLA-TV.
Beale has worked as a licensed practical nurse at various health care and government agencies in Washington, DC over the years. She discovered her talent for event planning while working at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
“My supervisors thought I had something special,” she explained to WJLA-TV. “When I was working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, I organized some large events and everybody was impressed with it, so I started coordinating their IT information conferences.”
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In 1994, she decided to start a new career as an event planner and launched her own company, “In Grand Style.” She then returned to Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland, to earn her associate degree in business management.
Mae Beale, who was in her late 70s at the time, decided to continue her studies and earn a bachelor’s degree to help her business grow. She worked extremely hard to achieve her goal, making the Dean’s list several times and participating in a variety of extracurricular activities.
Mae Beale, a Washington, D.C. native who has lived in Columbia for over four decades, earned a bachelor’s degree in business management to help her event planning business.
“I discovered I had to be intentional about it and make it a priority,” she explained.