A former Virginia Union student returned to finish his degree – alongside his daughter
More than 40 years ago, Reggie Tennyson made a promise.
He finally fulfilled it Saturday.
The 64-year-old Richmond native walked across the stage during Virginia Union University’s graduation ceremonies, turning the tassel to signify a degree he long ago vowed to earn.
“This was a bucket list (achievement),” Tennyson said this week while attending a pre-graduation event.
But it was about more than just checking off some box.
It was about family.
Tennyson, who works as an insurance agent and is the head boys basketball coach at Highland Springs High School, left Virginia Union in 1984, one year after transferring from the now-defunct St. Paul’s College. He began working, got married and started a family. The idea of earning an undergraduate degree slipped away.
His youngest daughter, Ragine Tennyson, made sure it became a reality.
On Mother’s Day 2025, Ragine sat with Reggie on his porch and talked to him about returning to school. She asked how many credit hours he needed to graduate. Reggie wasn’t sure. Ragine and her sister Brittney went to work.
“And in about 30 minutes they had everything they needed to know about me academically, and in the next 30 minutes they had me enrolled,” Reggie said. “They found my original student ID from Virginia Union and filled out all the necessary paperwork for this old man and had me enrolled in school.”
But Reggie wasn’t exactly sold on the idea at first.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that,” he told Ragine.
Ragine wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
“I said, ‘Listen, you don’t have any choice. We’re gonna walk the stage together,”’ she said. “I really didn’t give him the option. … I was like, ‘You’re gonna go to class, you’re gonna show up, you’re gonna do your work, you’re gonna ask questions when you have them. I’m gonna stay on top of your assignments.”
On Saturday, Reggie and Ragine walked across the stage together — he earned a degree in Entrepreneurial Management, she in Mass Communications. The ceremony brought to an end one year of pursuing school together: Reggie attending in-person and virtual classes, Ragine helping him stay on top of assignments and navigate technological aspects of college life.
“It was a tedious process,” Ragine said. “But I knew the goal and the dream was bigger than my frustrations, or being stressed out over technology.”
It wasn’t the first time Ragine helped a family member pursue a degree in higher education.
Several years ago, she talked to one of her cousins, Steven Lydell Atkins, about re-enrolling.
Ragine and Atkins initially planned to graduate together last year. After her father agreed to return to VUU, though, Ragine decided to extend her time in college. She studied in Japan for three months and kept an eye on Reggie’s progress.
Ragine — a Spanish teacher with Henrico County Public Schools’ Virtual Academy — has had a unique educational journey, too. She attended two predominantly white institutions and eventually left school all together.
“My path in life just was not clear,” she said. “I really wasn’t a good student.”
Seven years later, she returned to the classroom at Virginia Union. She was a little older — in her late 20s — and felt a little wiser, like she could more easily tackle a demanding load of classes. And for the first time, she was attending a Historically Black College. She and Reggie have become champions for HBCUs, talking about their worth and believing in their ability to change lives for the better.
At VUU, Ragine helped charter the university’s chapter of the National Council of Negro Women, a nonprofit organization that works to promote education, entrepreneurship and financial literacy in Black women, and that operates on more than 400 campus nationwide.
Kendall Taylor
And she is focused on serving others. That began in 2001, after she was named Future Miss Richmond. Ragine began attending events for Toastmasters International with her mom, Charmaine.
Working to help Reggie get back to school has been a service project of sorts, too.
“I always live by that commandment: honor your mother and father,” she said “I mean, I really, really have tried to live by that. So to be able to help them in any kind of way — if I can’t help anybody else on this earth, I can help my parents. And then I will feel like my life has been fulfilled.”
Reggie has also done some educating of his own at Virginia Union. During in-person classes, he has sometimes held court while younger students listen.
“I’m Pa-Pa around campus,” he said. “I’m probably the oldest male graduating in this year’s class. My professors, a lot of them, gave me the opportunity to lecture in class about my profession and my life.
“I felt like I was part of their learning experience because they had somebody right there who had gone through a lot of stuff they are getting ready to go through. So life experience has paid dividends for me in the classroom.”
In a statement, Virginia Union Executive Vice President Dr. Davida Haywood said the school celebrated the achievements of Reggie and Ragine.
“Their story reflects the power of perseverance, family legacy, and the transformative impact of higher education,” the statement read. “This moment embodies VUU’s commitment to Student Success and Academic Excellence, while highlighting how education can inspire generations and create pathways to opportunity and impact.”
Reggie spoke at a graduation luncheon late last week. He brought up the idea of having a five-year plan for the future and blended in his faith.
“I don’t have a five-year plan,” he told those in attendance. “I have a God plan. I said, I’m gonna continue to let him order my steps, and I want you to let him continue to order your steps. And wherever you’re supposed to be in five years, only he knows. We don’t know.”
But Reggie does have an educational plan. He’s already enrolled to begin work on his Master’s degree in the fall.
Four decades ago, Reggie told his mother, Shirley B. Tennyson, that he would one day finish college. Shirley, who died in 2016, always wanted Reggie to earn his degree. He officially earned it a few hours before Mother’s Day.
He took an educational detour, but the winding path led him back to the words he told Shirley.
“I made a promise to her that I would do this,” Reggie said, “and I’m fulfilling that one promise.”
