Carthage College, located in Kenosha, Wisconsin, recently had a first for the school as its fall students contained a set of four women making up three generations of the same family. Samantha Malczewsi, a sophomore studying nursing at the college, was joined by her younger freshman sister Mia Carter. Already sharing a room, the family had a lot of connections, but seemingly on a whim, their mother Amy Malczewski and grandmother Christy Schwan also decided to attend. 

Initially, only Amy decided to attend, thinking that she should, now that she had more free time, get a graduate degree from the college. Since Carthage has a specific master’s in business, design and innovation, the mother of the group thought that it would be a perfect opportunity to enroll as a student. After talking about it with her own mother, Christy Schwan, Amy decided to take the leap and join the program. However, this also inspired Schwan herself to enroll in the same program, as she had also been looking at getting more education, even at an older age. 

Schwan, at 71, retired three years prior from a role in employee benefits consulting, and while she still volunteers locally, she knew that she wanted to go back to school. At the time, Schwan’s mother had also recently passed away, and Amy Malczewski realized that Schwan won’t always be there, which prompted her to find ways to spend more time with her mother. So, Schwan dug up her old records from a previous freshman year at Valparaiso University from 1969 and started in the fall semester. 

This is not the first experience anyone in the family has had with Carthage, as Amy Malczewski had worked at the institution for 22 years as the spirit team director, graphic design teacher, and a career specialist for culture, art, and communication areas. As such, she claims that she is “Carthage’s biggest fan,” and her daughters had been visiting the school grounds before they were even born. 

While neither of the two daughters see their mother or grandmother around campus often, with Christy claiming “I’m not a helicopter grandma” according to CNN, the girls still visit their mother’s office in career services on occasion. Although infrequent, both Amy and Christy are happy for the company and experience. As nontraditional students, both encourage others in the same situation, who are considering going back to school to “just go for it,” and to use the experience to make new memories and friendships. 

Carthage has, in the past, had families where multiple generations attended the school, according to Vice President of Enrollment Ashley Hanson and reported by CNN, “never at the same time.” This is slightly less surprising given the fact that Carthage is relatively small, at only 2,600 students, although significant nonetheless. Hanson still applauds Christy going back to school after retirement however, claiming it to be motivational and hoping that “it inspires more people to want to do the same thing.”