'You Never Stop Learning': 3 Biggest Life Lessons an 84-Year-Old Recent Grad Learned in College

When Jerry Pollard enrolled in his first course at Northeastern Illinois University in 2006, he didn't expect any of the attention and fanfare that greeted him when he accepted his bachelor's degree from the school during Monday's commencement.

"I wasn't even looking for a degree in the first place," said Pollard, an 84-year-old Northbrook grandfather who was the first student called to picked up his diploma at the ceremony.

But attention and fanfare are to be expected when you become a school's oldest graduate since at least 1961, which was the case for Pollard at NEIU. Chicago TV camera crews captured the NEIU ceremony, and Pollard has been the subject of stories on local and national news websites.

Watch Jerry Pollard Receive His NEIU Diploma on ABC 7 Chicago

It's a new experience for Pollard, who has had his share of experiences. But it's not one he'd like to repeat.

"It was my 15 minutes," he told Patch this week. "I'm glad it was over."

Consider this aversion to fame one of the lessons Pollard learned along the way to earning his four-year degree in history. And while it's probably the most recent lesson he's learned from the experience, it's certainly not the most important.

Patch asked Pollard in his role as a new college graduate what were the three most important lessons he learned while attending classes, interacting with professors and classmates and living the the life of a full-time students.

1. Your Education Never Ends

"You never stop learning."

If Pollard ever wanted a catchphrase to sum up how to live life, that four-word sentence would be it. College didn't introduce him to the idea of continuing education—he's been unofficially practicing for decades—but attending NEIU put it in a classroom setting and reinforced the concept in his mind.

Pollard and his late wife, Jacqueline, who died in 2013, traveled to around 60 to 70 countries during their 57 years together. As a solo traveler, he's been to Antarctica, and he even climbed Mount Everest during his spring break this year.

Before each excursion, Pollard would do copious research surrounding his destination, learning about the culture, geography and the people.

"I never went any place without studying about it first," he said. There's all kinds of interesting things to learn before you go [to visit a place]."

And yes, Pollard is enrolled in an NEIU course next semester: Precolonial Sub-Saharan Africa History.

2. Other Perspectives on People and Events Can Broaden Your Own

As a student in his 70s and 80s, Pollard found himself taking courses about events that his classmates knew as "history" but that he experienced as "current events." Despite having lived through what was being taught, some of his classes, such as one about revolutions in Latin America after World War II, either provided new information or a new way to look at what had transpired.

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The biggest eye-opener, however, came from a justice studies class he took after finishing the requirements for his history coursework. Students needed to attend a meeting of the Chicago police board for the class, and Pollard—who describes himself as conservative by nature ("friends say I'm to the right of Genghis Khan")—was stunned at what he saw and heard.

"I'm white. I've never been exposed to the conditions some blacks in Chicago live in …," he said. "And to listen to black people about their experience. I saw a guy standing there, he was crying that his sister had been shot … [and] he was begging [the board] to do something about it. …

"These are aspects of life, as a white suburbanite, you never get exposed to."

The experience struck an emotional chord with Pollard, who says his Jewish upbringing brings with it a moral obligation to properly care for others.

"This country is too wealthy for people not to have a home or for kids to go to bed hungry," he said. And while he's not a supporter of government-supported social welfare programs, he also admitted, "I don't have answer to the problems."

3. The World Through Young Eyes Is Exciting

"Do you know how interesting it is to talk to people who have their whole life ahead of them?" Pollard said.

His classmates' conversations were a refreshing and welcome change of pace to the topics his friends that are closer to his age discuss.

"Do you know what people in their mid-70s and mid-80s talk about? Knee replacements, hip replacements," said Pollard who considers himself to be "truly, truly blessed" when it comes to his health.

Although Pollard enjoyed listening to the young'uns, was he ever tempted to offer that generation kernels of advice that benefited from his age and experience?

"Only when they'd ask. I would never give advice," Pollard said. Then after a short pause: "Well, maybe I'd give them some advice."

PHOTO: Jerry Pollard receives his diploma from Northeastern Illinois University President Sharon Hahs during the school's graduation ceremony May 9, 2016. Provost Richard J. Helldobler claps in the background. (Joe Davis | Northeastern Illinois University)

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