Oldest student to don cap and gown

By Rachel Hernandez
Staff Writer

“The very first time I walked on campus, I got kind of choked up because for the first time, I was a student... at a real university,” said J.C. Worthington, a senior majoring in social work at UNCP.

Worthington will be the first in his family to complete college when he graduates this December.

Age has been kind to him and you would never guess that he is 66-years-old. He is full of energy and genuine smiles and is the type of person you would never forget meeting.

Worthington begins a typical day at 4 a.m. cleaning the grounds at the University Courtyard Apartments. When he is finished, he does physical training on his own or with the Army R.O.T.C. cadets. Next, it’s time for his classes (never less than 15 hours per semester) and then on to his internship at Advantage Hospice & Homecare in Lumberton.

An average person would be exhausted at this point, but not Worthington. He moves on to his night job, working as a security guard in the U. C. until 2 a.m. He somehow finds time to be a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, LSOP and Alpha Phi Omega.

He even shuttles international students to Lumberton and Fayetteville so they can go shopping.

“There has been so much on my plate, but I always try to give 150 percent,” he said.

Worthington said that UNCP has been an amazing experience and that he will always be grateful to the students, faculty and staff who have supported him.

“You just don’t know how much it is going to mean to me when I walk across that stage to graduate,” he said.