View NJN's story on Pearl Wilson

The power of persistence. If ever there was a phrase to describe Pearl Wilson, that would be it.

Pearl, an administrative assistant in the Rutgers-Newark Economics department, began her journey to a college degree back in 1969, at a community college in North Carolina, where she was living at the time. After a year as a full-time student, she came to New Jersey to get a better-paying job that would allow her to finance her education. She started taking part-time classes at Rutgers-Newark, but as the years progressed, fate kept intervening in her college plans. Fate took many forms: marriage; time off to raise three children; a serious car accident; illnesses of family members, both back in North Carolina and here in New Jersey; and the death of her beloved husband. Through it all, Pearl managed to squeeze in a semester here and there. But it wasn’t until 2000, when she had been working at R-N for 12 years, that she was able to re-start her coursework without interruption.

Come May, her steadfastness will pay off, and Pearl will graduate, with a double major in psychology and social work. The event is a source of pride for Pearl, and possibly even more so for her now-grown children, who “originally didn’t think I would persevere.” Instead, Pearl says, her daughters and son now consider her a role model and an inspiration. All of her children will come to the May 19th ceremonies, and her mother and brothers also will help her celebrate. But Pearl won’t have much time to rest on her laurels; she has been accepted to the Rutgers School of Social Work Graduate Program, with an eye toward earning her MSW and working in clinical social work. Pearl is this year’s recipient of the Department’s James Plummer Award, given to a University College social work major who has persevered in educational pursuits and contributed to the university or community.

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