At 83, Dallas Woman Goes Back to College to Fight Pandemic Boredom

An 83-year-old Dallas woman is going back to college as a way to fight boredom.

“I didn’t have anything to do,” Barbara Ingram said of life during the pandemic.

She already attended the University of Miami “60-something years ago.”

Now, she’s taking online classes at Harvard.

Ingram’s story is featured on a billboard at Park Lane and Greenville Avenue in Dallas.

The sign says, "83 years old and back in college ... Mental wellness for seniors."

It includes a picture of Ingram in a Harvard sweatshirt.

"It's wonderful. I just hope it reaches out to people,” she said.

Her friends are paying for it, to promote the message and encourage seniors to keep their minds engaged.

Ingram has already studied history and economics.

"And then at the end, it had math in it, which was hard for me to get back into algebra again,” she said.

She said she's not going for a degree this time and her grades don't even matter

But this octogenarian is ready for her next semester, which starts in a few weeks.

"My next class will be medical neuroscience, which is a class about diseases,” she said.

Ingram is a night owl. She studies from 10 p.m. until 2:30 a.m.

"You know I don't go to bed early anyway,” she said.

While she’s on winter break, Ingram said she is keeping her mind active another way.

She’s reading the dictionary.