Cherie Carper Miles (second from left), here with her two brothers and her mother while on vacation in Paris, commuted from Kansas City, Mo., to the University for classes toward a degree in psychology.
By Jessica Roberts
May 18, 2001
Cherie Carper Miles' adventure began 33 years ago when she came to the University to begin her undergraduate education.
Cherie Carper Miles (second from left), here with her two brothers and her mother while on vacation in Paris, commuted from Kansas City, Mo., to the University for classes toward a degree in psychology. |
In 1968, Miles was an active member of the University community, joining a sorority and taking classes toward a sociology degree.
But by 1970, the dream of travel lured Miles away from campus, and she spent the next few years visiting continents throughout the world, including Africa, South America and Europe.
Miles' travels continued when she returned to the United States. At 26, she married John Miles and moved to Minnesota, where they had three children, Christopher, Jane and John.
Aside from her responsibilities as a mother, Miles also worked as an assistant manager and a buyer for a small store and started her own business as a free-lance floral designer.
Throughout the years, Miles remained interested in continuing her education.
"I always wanted to go back to school," she said.
 Cherie Carper in 1970 |
In 1994, a move to Kansas City, Mo., gave Miles this opportunity.
"I decided I wanted to go back to school, but I wanted to go back to Washington University," Miles said. "And since it was drivable, it was doable."
Miles enrolled in University College in Arts & Sciences, and for the next two years, she continued her traveling and commuted from Kansas City to St. Louis once a week for her classes.
"I would make the 250-mile drive over to St. Louis for an evening class, stay the night and drive home the next morning. My friends the Kleins (Samuel Klein, M.D., is the Danforth Professor of Medicine and Nutritional Science at the School of Medicine and Hilary Klein, M.D., is vice chair of the psychiatry department at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine) were gracious enough to open their home to me."
When she returned here, Miles changed her major from sociology to psychology.
"You use it in everything. When I had a small business as a free-lance floral designer planning parties and weddings, there's lots of psychology involved, lots of hand-holding," Miles said. "And --it's an interesting subject."
Along with her evening class work, Miles spent two summers in St. Louis taking courses at the University's summer school, leading to some rewarding experiences outside the classroom.
"One summer, I subletted an apartment with two undergraduates, Allecia Vermillion and Naree Moore," Miles said. "It was fascinating, it was great --we had a ball. I was a roommate, not a mother. I wasn't there to make editorial comments."
The former roommates remain friends and plan to get together to celebrate their graduation from the University.
Miles' recent collegiate experience was somewhat different than her first two years.
"I partied less and appreciated the education more than I did the first time around," Miles said, "I think I realized, in retrospect, how many well-known and well-respected people in their fields teach at the University."
She credits her professors, the students and her adviser, Maria Hunter, academic adviser and financial aid coordinator for University College, with making her total experience enjoyable.
"They made a potentially frightening experience --returning to school as I turned 50 --comfortable," Miles said. "Everyone made me feel at ease."
"Cherie's always been a delight to work with," Hunter said. "She's an incredibly interesting and motivated student --she would have to be to accomplish what she did in just two years."
Though her journey at the University is over, Miles hopes to help others on their educational path.
"I would like to teach in the urban core," she said. "Right now I am tutoring in reading three days a week --it's a challenge."
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