A lifelong Baton Rouge resident is getting her sixth LSU degree — the one Joe Burrow got

For thousands of LSU students, graduation this weekend will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

But for Sharon Pol, it will be a sixth-in-a-lifetime experience. 

Pol, 72, will add a master's degree in liberal arts to the five LSU degrees she had already acquired over 50 years, starting with a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 1971. 

What inspired her to start racking up the credentials?

“The only way to make money teaching school 50 years ago was to get more degrees and that gave you raises," she said. "There was a program with the state called the Professional Improvement Program and they paid for my tuition."

While teaching and serving as a librarian, Pol continued her schooling. She earned two master's degrees, in education and library science, along with an education specialist degree.

By 1986, Pol had her fourth degree and was able to retire with more than two decades of educational experience. She had time on her hands and was only 30 credit hours away from earning a doctorate in educational administration and research.

So she figured she might as well keep going to school.

"It took me seven years to get the PhD," Pol said. "And that was 25 years ago."

Pol said that of all six degrees, the doctorate proved to be the most difficult.

"Classwork is easy," she said. "I like to go to school, but it took me the whole seven years to do class and to write the dissertation."

With all of her experience — and five degrees — in tow, Pol went on to become the executive director of the Baton Rouge Children's Advocacy Center after volunteering at one of their fundraising events. Pol said the center, which helps children and their families by providing child-focused services after they experience violent crime, physical abuse or sexual abuse, ended up being her most fulfilling job.

"When there’s an allegation of abuse, they would bring them to us and we would do a forensic interview and then we’d help them with therapy," she said. "That has been probably the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. We grew a lot, we got accredited, so many things happened in the time I was there.”

Pol said getting to work with students much younger than her and help them using her educational experience is part of what made continuing to go to school enjoyable for her through the years.

“I liked it because I was going to school with 20 year olds, 25 year olds, 30 year olds and I liked being with the young people but they enjoyed me because I have so much experience and knowledge of the fields," she said. "It was really fun to go to school with young people, you always have to work in groups and on projects, and I like that part."

After taking a few classes for fun following retirement from the Children's Advocacy Center in 2021, Pol said the ability to take most of the courses online — and a little tuition help from the Council on Aging — pushed her to earn a master's in liberal arts as her sixth LSU degree.

"The Council on Aging pays for tuition for anybody over 65 and so I wanted to take some fun classes," she said. "Not even particularly for a grade or anything, just fun classes. But then, I started taking the classes and said if I’m going to take them and get a grade, I might as well get a degree."

Pol will be walking across the stage for her sixth diploma during the College of Humanities and Social Sciences commencement ceremony Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

In addition to possibly making her the woman with the most degrees in LSU history, Pol's excited about her sixth for another reason: It's the one Joe Burrow, LSU's Heisman-winning, national champion quarterback, got. 

"The master’s of liberal arts allows you to take classes in a lot of different disciplines and I also wanted the same degree as Joe Burrow, but that’s besides the point," Pol joked.