Nearly 90 years after she would have graduated from high school, a 103-year-old Wisconsin woman finally got her diploma. Marie Hunt of Spring Green, Wisconsin, had to drop out of school after completing eighth grade when she found herself unable to get to her local high school,which was located six miles away from her home. Now a resident at Meadows Assisted Living and Memory Care in Spring Green, the centenarian was presented with an honorary degree by River Valley High School, 87 years after her fellow classmates graduated. Never too late: 103-year-old Marie Hunt received an honorary high school diploma 87 years after she would have graduated . 'I was born in 1911, and there was no way that country kids six miles away could go to high school,' she said, adding that instead she stayed at home and helped to take care of her eight younger siblings. When she expressed that she always regretted not graduating, her hospice nurse contacted the local high school to see if they could make Ms. Hunt's dreams come true. 'It's something I always wanted, and I didn't have the opportunity to go. And now, a hundred years later, here I am,' she told ABC's WKOW on her graduation day, 87 years after her classmates graduated in 1928. Interrupted education: Unable to get to her high school six miles away, Ms. Hunt dropped out and helped to care for her eight younger brothers and sisters . A different time: Born in 1911, Ms. Hunt didn't have easy access to transportation to commute to school . Friends, family, and fellow residents at her assisted living center were on hand to watch her walk in her black cap and gown as the traditional graduation song 'Pomp and Circumstance' played. River Valley High School's principal, the school board president and the district's superintendent were also in attendance to award the school's first honorary degree of its kind; before giving one to Ms. Hunt, the school had only ever issued honorary degrees to veterans. 'It is my great honor, as a high school principal, to be presenting you with your honorary high school diploma,' principal Kimbert Kaukl told her during the ceremony. School of life: Ms. Hunt was presented with a diploma after her hospice nurse contacted the local high school . Ceremonial rituals: Supportive friends and family laughed and applauded as Ms. Hunt moved the tassel on her graduation cap from the right to the left sides, signifying that she had graduated . Ms. Hunt, who has lived in Spring Green her whole life, did not share whether she had designs on higher education, but she did say that she 'might have been college material,' had she graduated when she was supposed to,as three of her siblings went on as three of her siblings went to college. For now, having her high school diploma has given Ms. Hunt plenty to be proud of. 'It says I've had a successful life,' she told WISC-TV Madison.
Marie Hunt of Wisconsin would have been in the class of 1928.
She dropped out after completing eight grade because she was unable to travel six miles to the local high school.
Friends and family watched as the cap-and-gown-clad centenarian walked to 'Pomp and Circumstance'