Published: 5/10/2019 11:27:58 PM
Modified: 5/10/2019 11:27:45 PM
HADLEY — When a child graduates college, it is a very big moment for parents. It is an even bigger moment, it turns out, when a parent and a child graduate at the same time.
That’s what happened this week when Erin Lamoureux and her daughter Caitlin Healy both graduated with graduate degrees from the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Nursing — Lamoureux a doctoral degree and Healy a master’s of science in the clinical nurse leader concentration.
“We definitely were able to support each other through the whole thing, working full time and being in grad school,” said Healy.
Both Healy and Lamoureux are working nurses, and Lamoureux has been a clinical assistant professor at UMass Amherst for around 20 years.
“It’s kind of interesting because I knew all of her faculty, because they’re colleagues with mine,” Lamoureux said. She also answered any questions her daughter had, and gave her advice.
Healy said that her mother sparked her interest in nursing. “I’m so proud of her,” her mother said.
After working and studying full time for so long, however, Healy said she’s “very excited to be done.”