Maryland mom graduates with son, Spelman names record seven valedictorians

Lissette Garcia and her son, Jason Garcia, turned one graduation into a shared family milestone at the University of Maryland Global Campus, where both earned their degrees on Thursday, May 15, 2026. For Lissette, the moment carried the weight of years of balancing her own education with the pull of family life. “To walk the stage with my son, it's just so great,” she said.

The Garcias’ achievement is also a snapshot of adult learners pushing through different timelines toward the same finish line. Lissette began her UMGC journey in 2018 and earned a Bachelor of Science in human resource management and psychology. Jason started in 2023 and completed a Bachelor of Science in political science. They said they never shared a class and studied different majors, but ended up crossing the stage together, a rare pairing that turned a commencement ceremony into a story about persistence, timing and the long payoff of returning to school.

Jason called the moment “a massive relief and a massive accomplishment,” and the family said the next chapter includes big career moves and a restful vacation. Their story resonates beyond one Maryland household because it captures a broader reality in American higher education: degrees are often earned in fragments, across jobs, childcare and delayed starts, not in a straight line.

That same theme of achievement and second chances echoed at Spelman College in Atlanta, where the school announced a record seven valedictorians for the Class of 2026. It was the first time in Spelman’s history that seven graduates finished with perfect 4.0 GPAs. The valedictorians were Alexis Sims, Nia-Sarai Perry, Cori’Anna White, Aiyana Ringo, Alyssa Richardson, Sophia Davis and Mariama Diallo.

Spelman said the seven represented fields that included documentary filmmaking, biochemistry, philosophy and political science, and the college highlighted their sisterhood, academic excellence and plans after graduation. The school’s 2026 commencement ceremony was held on Sunday, May 17, 2026. Together, the Garcia family’s shared stage walk and Spelman’s unprecedented class of top scholars showed how graduation stories can speak to something larger than one campus: the promise that effort, whether stretched across years or concentrated into a perfect record, can still change a family’s trajectory.