From the shadows of war to the commencement stage, Theresa is on a half-century-long journey toward her dream
Sitting quietly on the side of a Nigerian church in the 1960s, a young Theresa Onwukeme
watched her father volunteer as a psychologist, helping young couples prepare for
marriage. It was there that a lifelong dream was sparked. But just as her own educational
journey was about to begin, history intervened. In 1967, when Theresa was in the seventh
grade, the Nigerian Civil War broke out.
The conflict halted her education for five years, leaving her family with nothing. Unable to afford tuition for six of their eight children, her parents had to make a heartbreaking choice. While her older sisters remained in college, Theresa had no choice but to join her mother, picking up a needle and thread to sew for a living.
By 18, Theresa was married; soon, she was a mother of four. When her husband passed away 18 years ago, she became the sole provider, using her sewing and clothing design skills to fund her four children’s academic dreams. Every single one of them put on a cap and gown and eventually became working professionals.
Then, in 2012, Theresa moved to the United States to help care for her grandchildren while her youngest daughter attended medical school. Walking down Imperial Road in 2014, a sign for Downey Adult School caught her eye. With limited English but an unyielding spirit, she asked her daughter to see if an older adult could enroll.
After 50 years away from the classroom, Theresa went back. She balanced GED preparation with ESL, pronunciation, and computer classes. In 2015, at age 63, she officially earned her GED and immediately enrolled at Cerritos College.
Her first day on a college campus was a lesson in breaking barriers. As she waited in the hallway, her 18- and 19-year-old classmates assumed she was the professor. When the door unlocked and she took a seat among them, the room fell into a confused silence. During introductions, she proudly stated who she was: a grandmother from Nigeria, West Africa.
"It wasn't easy," she recalls of the generational gap, but she refused to sit in the back. She sat in the front row, raised her hand for every question, and spent hours at the campus Success Center tutoring lab. Her drive won over professors and peers alike. She joined the Psi Beta honor society, volunteered at mental health centers, and helped plan the campus Psychology Day Conference.
Theresa transferred to Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2019. Though language and generational barriers persisted, her 50-year hunger for learning carried her across the finish line. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2023 and immediately pushed into a master’s program in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT).
This past May, the woman who was denied an eighth-grade education stood before thousands as the student commencement speaker for Dominguez Hills.
Now, as Theresa works toward completing the 3,000 clinical hours required to practice as a counselor, she already has her eyes on a doctoral program next year. Her ultimate goal is to work as a marriage and family counselor while teaching the next generation as a professor.
"I don't want to stop," Theresa says. "There is no limit to education... Whatever you want to do in life, you focus and set the plan."