By Sian Wilkerson

For most students, there is almost nothing more emblematic of the college experience than an extended study session with friends. Whether it’s meeting up at the local coffee shop for some midday cramming or spending an all-nighter in the library, everyone has been there. Virginia Commonwealth University senior Laila Hendricks is no different. It’s just her study buddy who’s unique.

In May, Laila, a graphic design major in the School of the Arts, will graduate alongside her dad, Jason, a student in the School of Education’s master’s program in leadership studies     .

Attending college alongside her dad has been “strange but cool,” said Laila, who is also minoring in mass communications. “Overall, we just motivated each other to keep going and keep pushing.”

Coming to VCU was an opportunity to continue a family tradition for Laila, whose grandfather, Charles Allen, and aunt, Veronica Hendricks, are VCU alums. She didn’t know when she applied that she would end up on campus with her dad, but going through this experience with him has been special.

And for Jason, ending this chapter of his journey with his daughter is like something out of a storybook.

In 1992, he originally came to VCU as a sophomore transfer student, working several jobs to support himself. The workload was heavy, school went on the backburner, and he left to join the Marine Corps. Years later, when he returned to Richmond, the prospect of going back to school still seemed very far away.

“I started working in the real world, and that took over everything,” Jason said. “Next thing you know, I’m married, I have my wonderful daughters, and we were off and running.”

It wasn’t until Laila began the college application process that her dad started to think once more about school. He recalled stopping by the Ram Horns sculpture on Monroe Park Campus with Laila, a visit in which he relished her joy but also realized he felt “incomplete.”

When Laila was admitted to VCU, Jason wound up reconnecting with a former professor, Daphne Rankin, Ph.D., a longtime educator and administrator whom he overheard on a Zoom call during the orientation process. As they caught up, Rankin asked Jason if he had thought about coming back to finish his degree.

“I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love that, but life is life,’” he recalled. “She told me, ‘If you can figure out a way to make it happen, we can figure out a way to make it happen for you.’”

Finally, 21 years after starting his higher education journey, Jason went back to school and earned his undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies from VCU’s University College in 2022. It was “humbling” to return to campus life, he said, sitting in the classroom with fellow students his daughter’s age and realizing he didn’t know how to connect his laptop to the Wi-Fi.

“You have to be willing to learn and admit when you don’t know something so you can receive the help you need,” he said. “Ask the right questions. Be curious. And I think that’s helped me.”

It also helped to have a built-in support system. Jason and Laila often meet on campus to go to the library, eat and study. And when Laila, who lives in an apartment near campus, visits her family home in Chester, she and Jason frequently find themselves at the dining room table with their notes spread out.

“Even though we weren’t in the same major, I [would be] like, ‘What are you working on?’ I’d show him a few projects, he’d show me a few papers,” she said. “Just seeing him doing his thing and coming back into the groove, I was really like, ‘Wow, this is what it’s all about.’”

The rest of the family is also working on their education, with Jason’s wife, Shana, completing her undergraduate degree in human resources management, and their younger daughter, Lauren, wrapping up her first year at Virginia Tech.

“We lift each other up – and in many different ways,” Laila said.

Jason agreed: “We’re constantly talking, we check each other on schoolwork. I know that’s the difference – I didn’t have that type of support system, which kind of pulled me away from school. [But] my wife and I have always pushed the girls to focus on school first.”

When it’s time to graduate, they are heading out of the country for a family vacation, but they’re also looking ahead. Laila plans to take a gap year to work on her graphic design portfolio before beginning her master’s degree, while Jason has his sights set on pursuing his doctorate.

Though their time on campus together is coming to an end, Laila said she will always cherish it.

“It was the perfect four years,” she said of her VCU experience. “It was really good.”