A journey years in the making: Mom and daughter graduate from Penn together

Over the last 15 years, Stephanie Pierson lost her mom and dad, got married, had a second child, and, semester by semester, took classes toward a bachelor’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

On Monday, she got that degree. What’s more, her daughter Arielle, 28, received her bachelor’s from Penn, too. Both graduated with the highest honors.

Penn couldn’t say whether they were the first mother-daughter pair to earn undergraduate degrees at the same time. What’s certain is that nothing about the Piersons’ journey has been traditional.

Arielle attended school in Mexico as a child when Pierson worked there. She was home-schooled at times, and she dropped out of high school before getting her associate’s degree at Camden County College on her way to Penn.

Monday’s first-ever virtual commencement fits their pattern, both Piersons said.

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“We have never done anything conventionally, so this graduation, of course, is going to be unconventional,” said Arielle, an anthropology major who lives in South Philadelphia.

They were among 7,564 Penn graduates for the university’s 264th commencement, a virtual ceremony that included a tribute video to the class and singing of the alma mater by alumnus John Legend.

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Stephanie, a native of Media who now lives in Collingswood, started college the traditional way, entering Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa., after high school decades ago, then transferring to Lehigh University. During sophomore year, she became pregnant with Arielle and dropped out.

She began cleaning houses so she could take Arielle with her. She moved to Mexico and taught English for a year, then to Texas, where she took some college classes. In 2007, she lost her job and moved in with friends in New Jersey.

She also started at Penn that year. She would take one or two classes a semester each year. Both Stephanie and her daughter attended Penn’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies, which largely serves nontraditional students. Stephanie, a Latin American and Latino studies major, had her tuition covered by a Bread Upon the Waters scholarship for part-time female students over age 30.

Still, she struggled with life’s challenges. At one point, she had her father and grandmother living in her home on hospice. There were happy times, too: She and her husband got married during fall break one year.

“It’s a completely different world than when you are 20 years old, going to school, and that’s all you are thinking about,” she said.

She credits her late father, F. John Pierson, with inspiring her. Without a college degree, he worked his way from the mail room to middle-level management at Peco, but couldn’t go further. He paid for her first few classes.

“It was his dream for me,” she said.

Arielle’s love for archaeology began as a child: Her mother took her to the Penn Museum, and gave her excavation kits and a book on archaeology.

“My constant exposure was dirt and history, and I had a fascination with it,” she said.

But Arielle never much liked school. The breaking point came during her senior year of high school, she said, when saw she had already read all the books on her English class reading list. That’s when she dropped out and signed up for dual credit classes at community college.

Then Arielle saw how much her mother liked Penn and enrolled.

After her first few classes, she got a full-tuition scholarship through Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society for community college students, and worked as a waitress to support herself while attending school. She also worked as a Penn Museum fellow.

During their journey, Arielle and her mother took four classes together, which sparked friendly competition.

“If I got a 96, she would get a 97,” Arielle recalled. “She always managed to get me by one point.”

Arielle didn’t really care.

“I love her,” she said. “She’s brilliant.”

Several classes they took were in Arielle’s specialty.

“It was amazing for me to watch her,” Stephanie said.

Stephanie is pursuing a master’s degree, and eventually hopes to work in nonprofit leadership. Arielle is interviewing for a paralegal job and plans to apply to law school.

Over the last few years, they realized that if they planned things right, they could graduate together. Stephanie even dropped a writing course so she could stay in school an extra semester.

The mother-daughter duo dreamed of the traditional graduation stroll down Locust Walk, with faculty lined and cheering as they passed, then commencement at Franklin Field, usually attended by more than 20,000 graduates and family and friends.

The coronavirus delayed that. But they will get their chance: Penn will hold an on-campus commencement for the class in 2021.

For now, they settled for Penn’s virtual ceremonies. They watched their LPS program ceremony together on Sunday, with immediate family and friends around to cheer them on.