100-year-old California woman gets diploma

A 100-year-old Northern California woman is getting her high school diploma some eight decades after she dropped out.

Hayward High School in the San Francisco Bay Area awarded Mildred Principe her diploma during a ceremony at the school on Wednesday that included a limousine ride, orchestra music and a cake in her honor.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Principe enrolled at Hayward High in 1927, when some students still rode horses to school. But she left before graduating and married her high school sweetheart. Principe worked for decades at a drug store newsstand, but never completed her high school education.

Hayward schools Superintendent Stan Dobbs says he was hopeful Principe’s visit would foster student pride in the school and community.