I’ve seen many stories and pictures lately of kids going off to school with their backpacks and new outfits and I thought maybe you’d like my story.

I am a woman of a certain age (we all know what that means) and decided after many years of teaching all levels of school from junior high, to senior high and college freshmen that I would go back to school as a student this time. When I went to college, women were not admitted to many of the colleges in the country so now I thought I would try to go to a school I would have loved to have gone to back in the day, and that school was Harvard.

I wanted to take only a course or two on a part-time basis – sort of a bucket list experience.

So I called up a Harvard number that I found and was routed to someone who told me that in order to get into Harvard I would have to fill in an on-line admission application, then have a FaceTime interview and then an in-person interview.

I did all those things and then they asked me what I would like to study. So I told them I wanted to study in the Celtic Studies Department and only wanted to go for one semester to prove to myself that I could do it.

The admissions application, FaceTime interview and in-person interview all went well, and I was in.

So, on the first day of class I packed my messenger bag like any school girl, wore my school’s t-shirt and jeans and off I went. I loved every minute that I was there and was quite successful in the courses I took.

So, who knows, maybe if I had gotten in when I was ready to start college I’d have ended up in a different place and a different profession with different friends; but there are no regrets, just joy at what I was able to do as “a woman of a certain age!”

Luise Bethencourt lives in Groton. To get your story and photo into the Times, email times@theday.com.

Friends & Neighbors is a regular feature in the Times. To submit an item, email times@theday.com.