A 54-year-old cleaner who tirelessly worked for nearly a decade in a college in the United States graduated from the very school he worked for.
In an interview with CBS News, Vaudreuil narrated his inspiring story of hardship and sacrifice. “You go through life and you say, ‘someday I’m going do this. I’m going do that,’ and very often in life you’re hit with a curveball that kind of throws you off track.”
In 2007, Michael Vaudreuil’s plastering business went bankrupt and was unemployed for six months.
“We lost our home, bankruptcy, and our personal vehicle… decimation was completed. I was just a shell of a person at that time,” he told CBS News.
Vaudreuil ran out of options and ended up as a custodian at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. To utilize his time, he registered for tuition-free classes his college offers for its employees.
After eight years of classes all day and cleaning all night, the former cleaner graduated as a mechanical engineer on Saturday, together with a roster of students half of his age.
Upon receiving his diploma, Vaudreuil hopes for a change of path in his life as his graduation symbolizes a spark of hope for his career. “Very few times do you ever get to experience a real ‘someday,’” he said. “And so it feels like, welcome to my ‘someday.” Gianna Francesca Catolico/rga