Shaunda Shaw raised her children to believe that a good education is the key to a better life.

“I told them if you don’t have a good education you can’t get a good job,” Shaw says. “I sacrificed my education because I had two children. Everyone wants their children to do better.”

So she was proud when her son, Shineil Taylor, enrolled at Georgia Perimeter College. Taylor, in turn, was proud when his mother decided to join him on GPC’s Clarkston Campus, becoming a student herself.

“I always wanted to become a nurse,” Shaw says. “My children can now pretty much take care of themselves so I’m following my dreams now. It’s a lot, but I’m focused and I really want this.”

Though Taylor attended morning classes and Shaw took evening classes, mother and son supported each other’s efforts. When they could, they shared textbooks and also helped each other with GPC’s administrative and financial paperwork.

Shaw says even though both she and her son were focused on education, some other parts of the college experience offered different appeals to them. For example, Taylor invited his mother to join him at the recent GPC homecoming dance.

“I declined,” she says, adding that attending the college’s theatre performances was more her style. “I decided to let him go. This was his time.”