Defying the odds: 64-year-old woman graduates from Uber’s scholarship program

From driving the streets of Southwest Florida to walking across the stage, one woman proves it’s never too late to go back to school.

Michele Baron just graduated from Arizona State University at the age of 64, and she has quite the success story, all thanks to Uber.

The company helped her pursue a degree she wanted to add to her list of accomplishments while also defying the odds.

“When you’re young, 60 seems so old, but it’s not,” if you take care of yourself,” Baron said.

She’s not letting her age stop her from pursuing everything she wants in this life.

Baron is also a full-time Uber driver whose passion for success grew even more when she turned 58.

“I just started to drive Uber full time, and I thought to myself, oh my god, is this it?” said Baron. This can’t be it can’t be it. This is driving from point A to B.”

Her route would quickly turn into an educational opportunity through Uber and ASU.

“Uber was just starting to introduce the ASU scholarship and a four-year full ride held in trust and transferable. I talked to my husband, and I said, ‘I’m thinking about going back to school,'” Baron said.

In March 2020, right at the start of the pandemic, she was one of the lucky applicants to get into the program.

She took all of her classes online to get her degree in health science, but she had to adjust to a new way of learning.

“There were a lot of roadblocks. I was 60 years old. Now, everything was at my fingertips, but I had to learn how to study again. I had to learn how to write again. I had to learn how to navigate the classes,” Baron said.

Luckily, she got a little help from her online classmates.

“I learned to lean on the kids. There were so many young people who were patient and respected me and I adored them. Once I got a couple of semesters in, I was starting to catch on, and I’m thinking to myself, okay, I got this,” Baron said.

The more confidence Baron grew, the more classes she took, like chemistry, biology, psychology, and nutrition classes, within her four years in the program. 

“This was my testament to uber; I can’t thank them enough for what they did for me,” said Baron. It’s just sort of seemed like a blessing.”

With her degree, she plans to become a health lifestyle coach and wants to help others to improve their overall well-being, using strategies that focus on health, relationships, stress management and nutrition.

To learn more about Uber and ASU’s program, click here.