Mae Beale received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from University of Maryland Global Campus, the day after her 82nd birthday. Beale, who is a community advocate on several local boards in Maryland, once worked as a licensed practical nurse in Washington, DC. After helping plan several large events, she started her own event-planning business in 1994, and also began work toward her associate degree in Business Management at Howard Community College. Then she decided to pursue a bachelor's degree, one class at a time. "I wanted to make certain I had the time to devote to whichever class I was taking. I was like the tortoise. Slow and steady wins the race." Beale graduated with honors, receiving her diploma alongside 3,300 graduates from the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022. While she finished her coursework in the class of 2020, the school has not held in-person graduations since 2019.

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