It's never too late to earn your college degree. Just ask 94-year-old Hazel Soares. The woman was one of about 500 students to pick up diplomas Saturday during a commencement ceremony at Mills College, an all-women's school in Oakland. “It's taken me quite a long time because I've had a busy life,” said Soares. “I'm finally achieving it, and it makes me feel really good.” Soares, who has six children and more than 40 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, is believed to be the world's second oldest person to graduate from college. Nola Ochs of Kansas became the oldest when she graduated from Fort Hays State University three years ago at age 95, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Ochs, now 98, topped that academic feat Saturday, when she received her master's degree in liberal studies from Fort Hays. Born in Richmond, California in 1915, Soares married twice, raised six kids and worked as a nurse and event organizer before she retired and decided to return to pursue her dream of obtaining a college education.
