WOOLWICH TWP. — Two Woolwich Township residents, a mother and daughter, just graduated in the same class from Rosemont College in Rosemont, PA.
The mother, Abigail Cunning, received her bachelor’s in applied psychology, while her daughter Adrianna received hers in criminal justice.
“It was amazing to finish our degrees during the same term,” said Adrianna. “I knew that participating in graduation with my mom was going to be special, but the experience was even more memorable than I had imagined. The crowd’s reaction when we were announced as a ‘mother-daughter duo’ was absolutely heartwarming.”
Adrianna, the daughter, enrolled first in January 2020 as a transfer student and declared a major in Criminal Justice. Then the pandemic shifted all her courses online, and she moved back home.
“I only spent a few weeks on campus before COVID-19 hit, but during that time I loved the environment and especially the older buildings,” said Adrianna. “The library was my favorite. Once I began online courses, I loved that the format allowed us to feel like we were still interacting and getting to know our professor and classmates.”
Adrianna’s mother, Abigail Cunning, who had long wanted to complete her undergraduate degree, was inspired by her daughter’s studies and decided to enroll in Rosemont as well. She began her studies in applied psychology in May 2020.
“I set up a home office we both used to study and complete our assignments,” said Abigail. “While Adrianna is a night-owl and tended to do a lot of her studying late at night, we did work side-by-side on occasion.”
“It was fun to ask her opinion on a professor I was about to take a class with,” said Abigail. “I asked her to proofread my work and critique my APA formatting on a few occasions. We even took a religion class together.”
“It was really awesome to study with my mom,” said Adrianna. “I lived at home for most of my time at Rosemont, so we shared our main study space and spent a lot of time on our computers together. We got pretty good at proofreading each other’s work because we knew what the professors were expecting.”
They both completed their coursework in August 2021 and graduated summa cum laude at Rosemont’s Commencement ceremony on May 14, 2022, where they were also honored as members of Alpha Sigma Lambda honor society, which is the largest and oldest national honor society for non-traditional students.
“I am very proud of Adrianna’s accomplishments and was honored to stand beside her as a classmate and mom!” said Abigail. “It was amazing to finish our degrees during the same term,” said Adrianna.
