The Herald Online

Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Heather Strojek Jean Popejoy Floyd may be 84 years old but her desire to learn is still growing. Floyd dropped out of school when she was young, yet now holds numerous degrees, including a doctorate degree from the University of Illinois. [Click to enlarge]

Four bachelor's degrees, one master's and a doctorate are not enough to keep 84-year-old Jean Popejoy Floyd away from the classroom. Floyd, who will turn 85 on Halloween, has been going to college since the 1940s and is currently taking Audio Production in ASU's radio-tv department.

"The reason that I'm so dedicated to this is because I just like to learn," Floyd said. "It's not that I'm so smart; I just like to learn."

Floyd was born in 1922 in Cropsey, Ill., population 200. Because of her high results on a type of IQ test, Floyd was allowed to skip half of the third and fourth grades. She, therefore, graduated high school at the age of 16, in a class of 12 students.

"I've always thought even though it was a very, very small school, I still got a good education," she said.

After graduation, Floyd enrolled in college at Illinois State. Ironically though, she dropped out after only a year and a half because she was failing.

Concluding that college was not for her, Floyd joined the Navy in 1943 and did secretarial work throughout World War II. However, after leaving the Navy in 1947, she used her GI Bill of Rights money to give college a second try and returned to Illinois State. This time, she earned her first bachelor's degree in physical education.

Floyd used her degree for over 20 years teaching in public schools and universities. She then decided to return to school and pursue a master's degree at the University of Southern California.

"I just thought of the fanciest school I could think of," she said about choosing to attend USC.

After earning her master's degree, Floyd attended numerous colleges and universities throughout the states, including Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., the University of Hawaii and Oklahoma A & M (now Oklahoma State).

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