ROCK HILL, S.C. — A 65-year-old mother and her 43-year-old son are graduating from college at the same time after spending decades working for McDonald’s.
Not only did McDonald’s celebrate with them, the company funded their degrees, making two long-standing dreams come true.
“It was a bucket list for me, but something I wanted, it’s something about having that degree,” Belinda Byers told Channel 9 South Carolina Reporter Tina Terry..
Byers now knows what it feels like to be a college graduate after earning an associate’s degree from Colorado Technical University. So did her son, Russell Legare.
“After church, it was straight to homework,” Byers said. “I think my peers got tired of me saying when they asked, ‘What are you doing this weekend?’ Homework, homework.”
Byers said she took the job at McDonald’s during a time when she couldn’t find work anywhere else. She quickly advanced through the ranks, and now she supervises several stores.
Her son saw his mother’s success with the company and started working for McDonald’s in the ‘90s. Now, he’s in management.
“So I said let me work on getting a degree so I can see if I can go into training, corporate, or an owner-operator like the guy I worked for in McDonald’s,” he said.
They were able to use a program at McDonald’s called Archways to Opportunity. The program offers eligible employees 100% tuition coverage and academic advising -- the only thing they had to do was succeed.
“My mom always instilled in us just have faith as a mustard seed; no matter what goes on, fight as much as you always do,” Legare said.
Belinda graduated with a 4.0 GPA, and her son graduated with honors.
McDonald’s says in South Carolina alone, about 140 employees have benefited from the program.
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