Sherrilyn Sabo often meets her daughter, Jesse, for coffee on campus after class. Jesse is a senior studying wildlife management and ecology. Sherrilyn is a 50-year-old freshman studying elementary education.
Sherrilyn is one of 1,384 undergraduates on campus who are ages 25 or older, according to the University Office of Budget and Planning. They make up 5.41 percent of the University’s student body.
“I have a picture,” Sherrilyn said, smiling proudly. “My first day of school was her first last day as a senior.”
Sherrilyn graduated from Tara High School and arrived at the University in the fall of 1982, when she knew she wanted to pursue a major in education.
After becoming pregnant her sophomore year of college, she dropped out and dedicated her life to homeschooling her three children.
Sherrilyn was quick to shrug off any notion of forfeiting career for family.
“I didn’t sacrifice,” Sherrilyn said. “Being a mother was the most important thing in my life.”
The birth of her son allowed Sherrilyn to foster her love for education and further her interests in various teaching methods.
“When it came to my kids, I thought, ‘I’m not going to play Russian roulette,’” Sherrilyn said. “I want to make a difference. I want to be that one who shapes their lives.”
She researched curriculums and pored over American educator John Holt’s book, “How Children Learn.”
She fondly recalled a field trip to a rural veterinary hospital with her children so they could experience an animal dissection.
“My kids were just holding this canine heart and it had worms coming out of it,” Sherrilyn said, laughing. “The smell was just so gross for me.”
Sherrilyn’s children were not the only ones learning. Any time one expressed interest in a new field, she would dive headfirst into the foreign material.
“In 10th grade, my son said, ‘I really want to learn about economics.’ Well, I don’t really care about economics, but guess what — I had to find out,” Sherrilyn said. “You have to love what they do, and you have to help them learn to do what they want to do.”
Sherrilyn founded a local home-schooling group in 1996 and is now a part-time hairdresser.
Though all three of her children have left her nest, she aspires to continue educating children.
“I’d like to do the same thing with other kids because I just love it,” Sherrilyn said. “But I don’t have a degree.”
Despite her experience, Sherrilyn is not certified to teach in a classroom or administer standardized tests.
Sherrilyn said there was never a doubt in her mind where she would go to finally earn her degree. After leaving the University 30 years ago, Sherrilyn is back on campus, getting assistance from her children when she needs it.
“It’s funny how they’re helping me now,” Sherrilyn said.
She recently was assigned an issue analysis on the death penalty. Her oldest son, Bevan, helped her research the topic.
Bevan, 27, graduated from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center just three months before his mother started classes at the University for the second time.
Sherrilyn’s other son, 26-year-old Alec, works as a research associate in the Life Sciences Building. He advised his mother to relax and not overextend herself.
“You learn not to spin your wheels,” Alec said. “It’s not about really how hard you work, it’s about how efficiently you work.”
Sherrilyn’s children also counsel her on the social aspects of being a college student in 2014, advising her not to show off pictures of her children in class.
“[Jesse] goes, ‘Mom, don’t do that. Kids don’t want to see. You’ll turn kids off,’” Sherrilyn said. “They’ll calm me down. They’ll tell me, ‘Mom, you’re spazzing out.’”
Though Sherrilyn is old enough to be many students’ mother, she said she’s built friendships with her classmates and has never experienced cattiness from her peers.
She studies for math class in the Student Union with an 18-year-old friend and swaps notes at history review sessions.
She remembered an incident earlier this semester when she was struggling with her calculator.
“It’s funny how kids will reach over, and they’ll just show me. That’s so sweet,” Sherrilyn said. “I guess I’m surprised. I mean, I’m OK with them, but they’re OK with me.”
Sherrilyn acknowledged the difficulties of being both a full-time mother and student, but there is no question in her mind which role comes first.
Wearing an apron, she cooks for her family on Sundays in the kitchen of her Prairieville home — a former slaves’ cabin her family has owned for more than 100 years.
Even when overwhelmed with assignments, she is adamant about not letting her kids down.
“My kids will call — ‘Mom, did you cook anything today?’ — Even though I’m slammed with homework, I’ve still cooked a roast.” Sherrilyn said. “It takes three hours to cook a roast.”
There are other motherly duties Sherrilyn refuses to sacrifice, including driving her kids home from parties when they’re unable to do so themselves.
“Saturday, I had finished and finally thought I had everything done, and one of my kids had too much to drink and drive. I went and picked him up on Saturday night,” Sherrilyn said. “I wouldn’t dare tell him I’m in the middle of a quiz and it’s timed.”
Unlike most students, Sherrilyn has been around to see the changes the University has undergone since 1982.
She has particularly strong views about the University’s teachers, examining them from the eyes of a lifelong educator. She thinks professors are now more aware and respecting of their students than they used to be more than three decades ago.
“I can see why kids are floundering,” Sherrilyn said. “Some professors are just not here to teach. Just because you have knowledge, you’re not necessarily a teacher.”
Ten years from now, with her University degree, Sherrilyn sees herself writing curricula and shaping young students’ educations the way she did for her own children.
“I love children,” Sherrilyn said. “I would do anything to help children learn.”