Mother & daughter graduating from Grambling this semester

GRAMBLING, La. (KSLA) - A mother and daughter from Monroe are graduating from Grambling State University on May 12.

Suzzon Jiles and her daughter, Trinity Jones, are graduating together; Suzzon will receive her bachelor’s in child development, while Trinity will be awarded her bachelor’s in biology.

“Grambling State has changed my life,” Suzzon said. “I’m now educated and soon to be degreed! I have enjoyed every connection I have made here, finding friends for a lifetime, and a plethora of knowledge about early childhood education. I’m very much grateful for that. I was inspired to become a child care worker/owner after being number two of 10 siblings. I helped my mom raise my younger siblings and loved teaching them as well, so I’ve kind of been doing it most of my life.”

Trinity also speaks highly of Grambling.

“Coming to this institution has taught me leadership skills, time management, and how to grow as a young adult,” Trinity said. “It also has taught me how to socialize with people after joining the prestigious sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc.”

The mother and daughter both say attending university during the pandemic was a unique challenge.

“Organic chemistry was very hard for me due to COVID and the classes being 100 percent online,” said Trinity. “I’m more of a hands-on person, but the faculty and staff helped me tremendously. The biology department at Grambling State University is like family to me. They’ve helped me so much even in other areas. Dr. [Dagne] Hill and Ms. [Angela] McMurray were such a big help to me. Ms. Laquetta Anderson helped so much advising me for classes and Dr. [Gernerique] Stewart in the chemistry department helped me understand chemistry and I’m very thankful for that.”

Meanwhile, Suzzon says juggling the duties of student, mother, and wife during the pandemic required her to deal with a lot.

“There were many difficulties I faced working and going to school,” she said. “It was overwhelming at times being a wife and a working mother. There were long hours spent studying, not to mention that COVID hit right when I enrolled at Grambling. I never got to enjoy my college experience, and I never even got to tour the campus, but thank God I made it this far, and I will continue.”

Suzzon hopes to open her own childcare center in Monroe, while Trinity says she wants to enroll at the Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry.

“In grade school, science was my favorite subject,” Trinity said. “We took a career path test my freshman year of high school and my results came back saying I should be in the ‘health care field’ and I was invited to a school of medicine camp at the University of Houston, in Houston, Texas. We shadowed doctors and surgeons and I knew I wanted to major in biology when I got to college. So what I really want to do is become a pediatric dentist. Grambling has set me up to hopefully live out and realize that dream, and I’m so appreciative to the university and everyone here who’s helped me.”

Spring 2022 commencement ceremonies will be held Thursday, May 12 at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center at GSU. Click here for more information about graduation.