Mother follows in daughter's footsteps, earning degree and academic honors

BY ELIZABETH V. HARDERS

Like daughter, like mother.

That's not exactly how the cliché goes, but it is how things went for Brigitte Chia, the outstanding graduate from the College of Arts and Letters at December commencement.

A 1967 graduate of Hampton's Kecoughtan High School, Chia earned an associate's degree at Tidewater Community College and worked as a reporter for the Virginia Beach Beacon, but primarily focused on being a wife and mother. However, she felt something was missing. When her daughter, Wendy, graduated from Old Dominion in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in English, Chia knew it was time to fill in that missing link. She enrolled at Old Dominion in the fall of 1996 and after five years of part-time study earned her own bachelor's in English.

However, upon entering the English program, she was standing in the very large shadow of her daughter, who was an A student and the English department's top scholar. The faculty not only knew and liked Wendy, but they also continued to see her regularly because the younger Chia stayed to pursue her master's and work as a teaching assistant.

"Sometimes it felt like it was 'Wendy, Wendy, Wendy,' like 'Marcia, Marcia, Marcia,'" laughed Brigitte, in reference to the famous lament of middle sister Jan Brady On TV's "The Brady Bunch."

However, the faculty quickly learned that smarts and a strong work ethic ran in the Chia genes, and, like daughter, like mother, Brigitte was an outstanding scholar in her own right.

English professor Jeff Richards, who taught both Chias, was surprised at the personality difference. "The daughter is the more serious one, while the mother takes the more untraditional approach," he said. And while the situation was unique for him, Richards said he was conscious of not making too much out of it. "It was important for me to have her be her own person, not simply the 'mother of Wendy.'"

"In the end I felt like the teachers saw me as a different person, not just a clone of my daughter," Brigitte acknowledged. The two took different approaches to learning and had different preferences in genres. When Wendy turned to journalism (Brigitte's former area of interest) in graduate school, mom was glad to again became a source of academic advice instead of the other way around.

Though the two had a friendly rivalry when it came to grades, they retained their lifelong respect for one another. Sharing an academic experience - though separate from one another - certainly bonded mother and daughter in a special way. "It enhanced our relationship and helped us appreciate one another as adults," the elder Chia noted.

The two have shared with one another in other ways, as well. Wendy wore her mom's wedding gown when she married, and Brigitta wore her daughter's graduation gown last month.

Wendy, like her mother before her, is now a stay-at-home mom, doing freelance writing occasionally. And Brigitte, like her daughter before her, is continuing her studies at Old Dominion, pursuing a master's in English. They hope one day to take a class together, which will undoubtedly nurture their unique bond.