Jermar Inman

A Second Chance to Shine - The Before and After Lives of Mount Holyoke's Older Learners
Vista, Summer 1997, by Emily Harrison Weir

Unfinished Business

Jermar Inman started art college right after high school but found "it didn't look as good as the man in my life. I dropped out after one semester." Inman got married, had five children, and built a multimillion-dollar national construction business with her husband. Unfortunately, the relationship deteriorated as the business thrived. Divorce took Inman "from affluence--having cars, diamonds, and a big house--to having nothing and nobody." She tried real estate and worked as a travel agent, used her pilot's license, began a new relationship, and started a cleaning business. "You can make good money, but I felt I had more to give than cleaning someone else's toilet," Inman says.

After surprising herself academically at a junior college, Inman moved from Florida to MHC at age forty-five and is training for an international relations career. "Sometimes I feel intimidated in class because the women are so brilliant, but other times things come out of my mouth and I think, 'Wow! I said that!'"

"I don't want a career where I can make lots of money, as I've already done that," says Jermar Inman. "I want to make a positive difference in the world." The international relations major has already begun by volunteering for Habitat for Humanity in what's laughingly called her spare time.