Milledgeville mom of 14 graduating from Georgia College

From the time Sue Prestwood was in middle school, she wanted to teach high school math.

Although she has always been great with numbers, her multiplication skills got in the way of her college education.

The 52-year-old mother of 14 children will pick up her diploma Saturday, 30 years after she was initially scheduled to graduate from Georgia College in Milledgeville.

With 10 classes remaining for her degree in math education, she dropped out of school in the early '80s to care for her 3-year-old and 1-year-old.

"It just got to be more than I could do. My mind wasn't on that. My focus was on my family," Prestwood said Friday after taking her last final exam the night before.

With a dozen more children to come and keeping the books for the family's printing business, she didn't look back until four years ago.

Her husband, Walter, who also left college, missed out on a part-time job opportunity that required a college degree.

"Both of us stopped at the start of our junior year in college, so I told him I'd go back if he'd go back," she said.

Walter Prestwood decided not to keep pursuing his own degree but devote that time to encouraging his wife and keeping the household going.

"Walter's done more cooking," she said. "When I cook, we survive. When he cooks, we feast."

In fall 2014, Sue Prestwood went back to college with students younger than some of her children.

Schoolwork had been easy most of her life, but returning to college was challenging for the grandmother of a dozen kids, with two more grandchildren on the way.

"I think the hardest thing was, education has changed so much. There's a different style of teaching," said Prestwood, who home-schooled all of her children at some point. "Education has more student-led teaching. That was a little different."

Professor Brandon Samples, who is 20 years younger than his nontraditional student, taught her how to use technology and visual tools in mathematics instruction.

Samples watched her evolve from a reserved, new student to a passionate educator.

"When she gets excited about the topic, it's very evident," Samples said. "She has a good passion for it and some people don't have that."

'A VERY BIG IMPACT'

Professor Angel Abney saw that enthusiasm as Prestwood's adviser on her Capstone project on students' perspectives on what an equal sign means.

The research spanned a local elementary school -- and Prestwood's home.

"She had a large sample size, there," Abney joked.

The project helped hone Prestwood's approach to how students think.

"Sue's very hard working. She always gets her assignments completed on time, which I don't understand how she does it," Abney said.

The skills developed teaching and raising her own children are a valuable asset, said Samples, a father of two who can't image having 14.

The repetition of teaching fundamentals to her children better prepared Prestwood for a return to college, but she also credits them for teaching her more modern study techniques.

She thanks her classmates for helping her through and catching her up if she missed a lesson due to a family conflict.

"Her modesty is pretty strong," Samples said. "You put others first and you don't brag. ... I can promise you, she has had a very big impact on the students around here."

Her genuine nature will be missed in the hallways of Georgia College, he said.

Prestwood is quick to point out that her college degree was a family effort.

"I always said, 'If God blessed me with a diploma, I'd have to Photoshop everyone's name on it,'" she said.

Since six of her children have already finished college, it's a rarity when everyone is together. But nearly all the children will be there for Saturday's graduation -- including her 32-year-old daughter who lives in Baltimore, who helped her navigate online classes.

If Prestwood winds up teaching high school math one day, Samples is confident she will be a great teacher.

"She has the right level of enthusiasm that affects people around her," he said.

Prestwood even shrugs off the stamina it takes to raise a family larger than the size of Samples' classes she took.

"When you really get past three or four, it's really not that different because once they get 5 or 6 years old they can dress themselves," said.

Prestwood, who still has seven children at home, is also good at division -- separating the family into smaller groups for seating at restaurants and assigning the care of the little ones with older siblings.

She realizes her degree is the summation of all her family's sacrifices.

"I could no more take credit for this than anything," she said. "If it weren't for God, my family and the people at Georgia College, this wouldn't have happened."

To contact writer Liz Fabian, call 744-4303 and follow her on Twitter @liz_lines.

This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 10:11 PM with the headline "Milledgeville mom of 14 graduating from Georgia College ."