RICHMOND — David Chusid will tell you he doesn’t feel old. He’ll also tell you he just earned his bachelor’s degree at 74, was accepted to a master’s program at 75, and may be packing up his life in Florida to move to New York. He plans to teach high school math.
“I’m like a kid at heart, I really am. I feel like I’m still 18,” he said. “But maybe 20 or 22 might be more accurate.”
For years, Chusid has taught technology classes at his job, mostly to older adults encountering digital devices for the first time.
“To me, teaching is all about empowerment,” he said. “I’m trying to communicate to my students that they are capable of learning, because a lot of them don’t feel that they are, and that by learning these things, they are empowering themselves.”
He described watching a student understand a concept as one of the best feelings he’s ever had.
“This light goes on in their eyes … I explained and explained and was patient and patient and then they go, ‘Oh, wow.’ And I go, ‘They got it,’” he said. “What a great feeling.”
Now, Chusid wants to take that feeling into a high school math classroom.
Chusid graduated from Indiana University East in December with a bachelor’s degree in natural science with a concentration in math, making him one of the oldest graduates across all IU campuses this academic year.
He has been accepted into a Master of Arts in Teaching program in secondary math education at Empire State College, part of the State University of New York. Chusid is actively looking for full-time work while pursuing this degree. He and his wife plan to relocate to the area to be closer to their kids and grandchildren.
“Age is not a limit unless you want it to be,” Chusid said.
Chusid grew up in New York City, graduating from Stuyvesant High School, one of the city’s most competitive science and technology schools. He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but his freshman year was derailed when his father suffered a massive heart attack just two weeks before he left for school.
“It really weighed on me that whole year,” he said.
He transferred to NYU for his sophomore year, pursuing economics, to be closer to home. But when his father died at the start of his second year, his family “fell apart,” and Chusid stepped away from school entirely.
In the years that followed, he got a job at a New York TV station, WPIX Channel 11, then started his own typesetting and desktop publishing business, and eventually had a career with Apple.
When he and his wife moved to Florida in 2017, Apple transferred him to a store there. He started at Boca Raton Public Library in 2018, and when he went full time in 2022, tuition reimbursement came with it.
He enrolled at a local school, Lynn University, but found himself bored after three semesters. If he was going to spend the next few years working toward a degree, he wanted it to be in something he actually loved.
This is when he enrolled at IU East in 2023, spending seven semesters working through online coursework while continuing to work full time at the library. He described the experience of returning to advanced math after decades away as something almost physical.
“I really felt the rusty gears in my brain coming to life again,” he said. “It was like a physical sensation that these nerve connections that I hadn’t used for decades were coming back to life, and it was a wonderful experience.”
Age never felt like a barrier, he said, partly because online learning made it easier to simply show up as himself. He joined discussion groups, made connections, and eventually posted a profile photo, white hair, beard and all.
“What am I ashamed of? What am I hiding?” he said. “I mean, it’s great that I’m doing this.”
He’s particularly drawn to schools with high-need students, he said, who haven’t always had a fair shot, where he hopes math becomes less a subject and more a doorway.
Chusid did not walk at IU East’s commencement ceremony, but he was watching.
His advice to anyone who thinks they’ve waited too long: “Just go for it.”
“Sign up for one course, see how you like it. What’s the worst that can happen?” he asked. “You don’t like it,so you quit? What did you lose?”
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Oldest IU grad this year says, ‘Age is not a limit’
Reporting by Trinity Rea, Richmond Palladium-Item / Lafayette Journal & Courier
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
