Moorestown Man Is BCC's Oldest Graduate

Syed Rizvi makes it sound so easy.

Last year, at 70 years old, the Pakistani transplant and current Moorestown resident earned his associate’s degree at Burlington County College (BCC), then immediately transferred to Rutgers to pursue his bachelor’s, all while working as a full-time substitute teacher and taking care of his family. Never missed or was late to a class.

Oh, and he’s been on the Dean’s List at both institutions.

How did he pull it off?

“It’s only time management,” Rizvi explained. “This is the time I have to devote to my studies. This is the time I have to devote to my family. This is the time I have to devote to my work.”

See? Simple.

Whether Rizvi knows it or not, his balancing act is an impressive feat in our increasingly harried world. And not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s even more impressive when you consider his advanced age.

When Rizvi, now 71, walks the stage at BCC’s graduation ceremony Saturday to accept his diploma—alongside a record-setting 720 other graduates—he’ll be the oldest member of this year’s graduating class.

Rizvi, a native of India raised in Pakistan, moved to the United States in 2008 and shortly after arriving got a job as a substitute in the Burlington County Special Services School District. Though aided by his teaching background in Pakistan, Rizvi knew if he wanted to move up the teaching ladder someday, he’d need more schooling.

“I thought I should further my education,” he said. “I thought I should use my time in the evenings as profitably as possible.”

He began attending classes at BCC in 2009 and had enough credits last year to earn his associate’s, but didn’t walk on graduation day.

While satisfied with his achievement at BCC, Rizvi has his eye firmly fixed on the road ahead. He’ll earn his bachelor’s in English literature from Rutgers next spring and plans to go for a master’s degree and a Ph.D. as well, in hopes of landing a teaching position at a college or university down the line. All the while, he’s still teaching at the special services school district.

Teaching, he said, is “the only profession where you are always young, energetic, looking forward to something good … And then you are giving something.”

He thinks nothing of the workload, nor does he worry about splitting time between school, work and family.

“If I don’t work, I feel sick,” Rizvi explained. “This has always been with me.”

And after all, it’s just a matter of time management and planning.

“Time is precious. If I would waste it, that moment will never come back,” he said. “I can get anything, except time.”

The graduation ceremony begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at the college at 601 Pemberton Browns Mills Rd., Pemberton.