COLUMBIA (WACH) -- As Midlands students prepare for the upcoming school year, one woman is proving you're never too old to go back to class.

72-year-old Jane Boozer-Hipp is the oldest student attending USC this fall.  And like the 20-somethings alongside her, Jane feels she has her whole life ahead of her.

Jane's a senior in many peoples' eyes, but to the University of South Carolina, she's a freshman.

Her passion for garnet and black is obvious now, but it wasn't always that way.  Jane battled depression after one of her sons died from Leukemia several years ago.  She explains that one day she received a message from her late son:  It was time to stop crying and start living.

"Get off your butt, and do something with yourself," Jane says, explaining the message from her son.  "You talk the talk.  Now walk the walk, Mama."

Jane is now walking the walk all the way to class, where she has some high profile friends.  She says USC running back Marcus Lattimore and other members of the Gamecock football team ask her to join them for group projects.

"Professor would say, 'Y'all get together in groups of four or five'," explains Jane.  "And they would say, 'C'mon Ms. Jane.  You're the oldest.'  See, because I'm already old and intelligent."

Jane is going back to school to be a teacher, and adds she even wants to write a book.

But this senior citizen freshman is already teaching the rest of us a lesson:  You're never too old to follow your dreams.