SNHU Spotlight: Annette Roberge, AS in Business Administration

At 90 years old, Annette Roberge ’24 was the eldest graduate at her Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) Commencement ceremony. When her name was called, she received a standing ovation.

Roberge first started her degree at SNHU (then known as New Hampshire College) in the 1970s after being widowed during the Vietnam War. As she raised her five children, she took classes at the college's Manchester, New Hampshire, campus, using her late husband's GI Bill.

"He's still part of my education, whether he was with me or not," Roberge said.

But after years of studying at night as a single mom, she made the decision to put her degree on pause. “It just became overwhelming — just about impossible to do both at the same time and do both well,” Roberge said. “So, I decided okay, I’ll have to put my education on the backboard, but I’ll get back to it.”

In the meantime, she built her career in insurance, spending 24 years as a New Hampshire insurance adjuster. After retiring, she served lunches within the Manchester School District for a few years.

As a grandmother of 12 and great-grandmother of 15, she also watched as some of her family members went on to earn their college degrees.

'I Made My Dream Come True'

This past fall, determined to finish what she started about half a century ago, Roberge contacted SNHU to enroll as an online student. After having the courses she took as a New Hampshire College student evaluated, she learned she had completed enough credits to confer an Associate of Science in Business Administration.

During her 90th birthday party, she shared the good news with her family. “I (had) them with their mouths hanging open because they had no clue,” she said. “I really wanted that one moment of ‘hey guys, I did it.’”

As the first in her family to attend college — but certainly not the last — Roberge encouraged anyone with a desire to earn their degree to persevere through their obstacles.

"If you have a dream, don’t just set it aside. Make every effort to get to it and finish it,” she said. "I had a dream, and I made my dream come true. You’re never too old to learn. So anybody who's going to go to college and get(s) delayed, don't give it up. It is so worth that day when you can actually say ‘I made it. I did it.’”

Roberge's story has garnered national attention from media outlets such as Good Morning America and PEOPLE Magazine. It's also been featured on Instagram via Pubity and other accounts.

Rebecca LeBoeuf Blanchette is a writer at Southern New Hampshire University, where she fulfills her love of learning daily through conversations with professionals across a range of fields. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a minor in Professional Writing from SNHU’s campus in Manchester, New Hampshire, and followed her love of storytelling into the online Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing at SNHU. Connect with her on LinkedIn.