Mom, 3 daughters to graduate from Georgia State on same day

ATLANTA, Ga. - During graduation season, most families sit down with the rest of the audience to cheer on their loved ones. But at Georgia State University, four of the Lee family will cross the stage on the same day this year.

Quila Lee, 53, and her three daughters — 31-year-old Rakiya Lee and 22-year-old twins Kalaya Lee and Kamiya Lee — are each earning their own degrees on May 7.

Quila, a seventh-grade teacher at G.P. Babb Middle School in Clayton County, will receive her Master of Arts in teaching. Rakiya is earning her master’s in public istration, while Kalaya and Kamiya will earn degrees in biology.

It’s a round-circle moment for the family. In 2003, Quila was pursuing her own master’s in public istration when she became pregnant with the twins.

The pregnancy almost stopped her pursuit of the degree, but she pulled through with community . As she walked across the stage at Kentucky State, her newborn twins were in attendance, alongside the then 9-year-old Rakiya.

“Twenty-two years ago, you never could have told me these girls and I would be graduating together,” Quila told the Georgia State University Magazine. “As any mother would be, I am so proud of them.”

Rakiya is considering enrolling in law school, while Kamiya will start her master’s degree in public health and Kalaya plans to become a veterinarian.

For now, Quila plans to keep teaching — but she isn’t done learning yet. A doctoral program might be in her future, she said.

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