Grand grad: UNLV student perseveres 23 years to earn degrees in English, French

Jennifer Knight

Monday, May 14, 2001 | 10:28 a.m.

Whenever there's a graduation ceremony, the word perseverance is generally woven into somebody's commencement speech. But in the case of Florence Guenier, the word fits.

It is not because she graduated from UNLV on Saturday with bachelor's degrees in English and French at the age of 72, although that is an accomplishment in itself. It is because it took her 23 years of study during which she never missed a semester.

"I don't think it's any great accomplishment, because it's something I just wanted to do," Guenier said. "I didn't even know this was all that unusual. I just thought there were a lot of others out there plugging away like me."

Guenier's education took her so long because for 28 years she has worked at Nellis Air Force base as a secretary and was able to take only one or two night classes a semester.

Every day Guenier would leave her job promptly at 4:30 p.m. She takes the bus, because she doesn't trust herself to drive, and arrives at UNLV two hours later in time for class.

"We've probably all heard our grandparents say they used to walk five miles to school every day, but you look at Florence and it's probably true," Lea Sexton, the director of the Wilson Advising Center at UNLV, said.

The South Carolina-born Guenier began taking classes in 1978 after a divorce left her wanting to improve herself and her writing skills, she said.

From then on, it became a labor of love. When a night class in English wasn't available, she would take a class in French literature because she loved it so much, Sexton said.

"Talk about perseverance. When she didn't get one thing she would do another," Sexton said.

But two things happened to get Guenier on the track to graduation. She decided in 1997 that it was time to graduate. And the advising center extended its hours until 6:30 p.m. in order to cater to non-traditional students. That gave Guenier an opportunity to talk to an adviser about what she needed to get a degree.

When Guenier first came to Sexton with her transcripts, she had 150 credits, more than enough for a double major.

"When I took a look at how many credits she had, I couldn't believe it," Sexton said. "I told her, 'This is a mess,' and she said, 'What do you think I've been trying to tell you?' "

Guenier toyed with the idea of quitting school only once, after having trouble in a group psychology course.

"I thought about it but I said, no I'm going to stay with this sucker and see it through to the bitter end, fail or not. I ended up with a pretty good grade, too."

Other than that, all of her time in school was a joy, Guenier said.

"I like being around great minds."

In her quest for enlightenment, Guenier never let her goals affect her job.

"She's never missed a day of work," Lt. Col. Spence Anderson, Guenier's boss, said. "She believes in coming to work, doing her job and keeping her private life out of work and have work stay out of her private life."

Guenier's initial aim to improve herself has resulted in more than 250 credit hours of school, two degrees and a measure of who she is and what she wants now.

"I'm not easily influenced, I hate bastard English, and I have reasonably good health," according to her assessment. "And I don't intend to stop going to school. If you like what you're doing, it's not work.

"Cooking is work."