Kathy Vitzthum will graduate from Iowa State University next month – after 40 long semesters of course work.

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Kathy Vitzthum will graduate from Iowa State University next month – after 40 long semesters of course work, Yahoo! News reports.

Vitzthum, an accountant, began taking one class a semester back in 1992, when her boss said he would promote her to accountant from her receptionist job if she took some accounting courses. Caring for her grade-school-aged children and holding down a full-time job left Vitzthum little time to study.

But Vitzthum said she kept going largely thanks to a promise she made to her father before he died.

Her father wanted her to finish her college degree even though she had finished her accounting courses and would be 50 years old. She agreed to keep going with her education, and her father gave her the big graduation gift – an antique cabinet – early, because he knew he wouldn't be alive by the time she finished school.

It kept Vitzthum going: "Every time I looked at it, I said 'I have to finish,'" she said.

Eleven years later, she said she finally feels like she owns it.

（点击雅虎新闻网站查看原文）

美国女子19年读完大学

       雅虎新闻报道，凯西•维兹顿在读了40个学期的课程后，下月将从爱荷华州立大学毕业。

       维兹顿是一名会计，她从1992年开始一学期学一门课程，那时她的老板承诺如果她学一些会计课程就把她从前台提升为会计。但由于要照顾上小学的孩子们，又得全职工作，维兹顿能学习的时间很少。

       但维兹顿说她能够坚持下来是由于父亲去世前她给父亲的一个承诺。

       她父亲希望她能够取得大学学位，即使到那时她可能已经50岁了。她答应父亲继续学业，父亲提前给了她一份珍贵的毕业礼物——一个古老的橱柜，因为他知道他看不到她毕业的那一天了。

       这使得维兹顿一直坚持了下来，“每次看到它，我就跟自己说，‘我必须完成学业，’”维兹顿说。

       11年后，她觉得自己真正拥有这份礼物了。

(China.org.cn May 3, 2011)