The pursuit of higher education is a shared goal between father and son Antonio and Brandon Gathers. They also manage to share the same school and graduation date.
Both will officially be awarded their degrees during South Carolina State University’s spring commencement exercises.
This is the second degree for Antonio as he is graduating with his master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling. He told ABC4 that he was inspired by his son.
“He was an inspiration to me, just seeing his perseverance,” Antonio said. “Doing other things, and having a full-time career, you kind of put yourself on the back burner. And it was just really important to me to get this degree to pursue another avenue in my life and in my career so that I could help people.”
According to Brandon, the inspiration goes both ways.
“He’s like my inspiration,” Brandon said. “He’s the perfect model of a Black male father figure. He’s a God-fearing man, he’s successful, he’s intelligent, he knows what he’s doing. He is just a great person in general.”
As far as how they ended up graduating at the same time, Brandon says it’s because his father is always trying to copy him.
The two graduate on May 10th at 6pm.