Harvard MBA Grad Celebrates Commencement With Brookline 'Honorary Grandparents'

BROOKLINE, MA – When Harvard Business School student Yiping Zhang’s parents in China couldn’t make it to her graduation ceremony, two Brookline seniors stepped up to show support.

Zhang had been a long-time volunteer at Hebrew SeniorLife, a senior living facility in Brookline, where she had first met and befriended her future “honorary grandparents,” Marcia Levine and Lee Goldberg.

She had been teaching a class to the residents every Sunday evening, leading discussions on business case studies she had been learning about in her courses.

She said at first she was nervous about facilitating the discussions as a non-native English speaker, but soon became comfortable thanks to the residents’ support.

“The residents were very understanding and supportive,” Zhang wrote in an email. “Sometimes someone asked a question and another participant helped me answer when a more nuanced explanation was required. I felt the trust was built up gradually week by week.”

Zhang said some of the residents’ favorite case studies were those that were most relevant to their daily lives, such as case studies about Best Buy and healthcare providers.

“Participants liked the case studies – some of them had MBA degrees themselves, some were curious about the business cases,” Zhang said.

Levine, 81, said Zhang was a caring and considerate teacher and volunteer.

“She was not only charming, she's very intelligent, very knowledgeable. She really listened to people's comments,” Levine said.

Zhang had previously volunteered at a senior living facility in Japan before she moved to Boston for her MBA, and said volunteering with the residents at Hebrew SeniorLife made her feel at home.

“They gave me a warm feeling of home, especially when I came to the US as an international student and was far from home,” Zhang said.

“Her parents should be so proud of her”

Over the course of the year, the number of residents attending the case study discussion program dwindled from 10 to just four.

But despite the decreased attendance, the discussions remained vibrant and the friendship between residents and Zhang strengthened, Goldberg said.

Goldberg said without the program, she wouldn’t have developed a friendship with Levine, whom she now calls her role model in life.

“Marcia is kind of like my mom, she's in her 80s and I just turned 59. Marcia is a role model for me in the future because she doesn't have a marriage and she never had kids and yet she has enjoyed her life. When I get to her age, I'm gonna be like that myself,” Goldberg said.

Levine, too, said the program was an inspiration for her and she looks at Zhang with the eyes of a mother and grandmother.

“I'm 81 years old and I felt like she [Zhang] would be a wonderful daughter or granddaughter for anyone. Her parents should be so proud of her, of what a lovely person she is,” she said.

The ceremony

When Zhang’s graduation ceremony approached, and her parents couldn’t make it, Zhang invited the four women in the program to attend instead – only Levine and Goldberg were able to make it of the four.

The commencement, held on May 25, was “beautiful,” Levine said, and Zhang’s compassionate spirit to put others before herself didn’t waver, even during the actual ceremony.

“During the actual graduation service, while they're waiting for their section to be called up and to receive their diplomas, she was texting Lee, ‘Is Marcia okay? Is she comfortable? I have a sweater for her if she’s cold.’ It was amazing,” Levine added.

Goldberg said watching Zhang receive her diploma allowed her to vicariously experience the graduation ceremony her sister and her sister’s husband couldn’t attend when they graduated from Harvard Business School in 1994.

“Me going to the commencement for Yiping was like seeing what my sister missed out on with her husband,” Goldberg said.

The presence of Levine and Goldberg, with whom she had grown close to while in school and through volunteering, provided much needed support and made Zhang’s graduation day even more special, she said.

“Having two of them coming to my graduation definitely was my highlight of the two-year journey,” Zhang said.

What’s next?

Zhang said she is currently looking for job opportunities and hopes to stay in Massachusetts.

She said she also hopes to continue volunteering with Hebrew SeniorLife as she figures out her next steps, and plans to stay in touch with the residents and visit them whenever she can.

Levine said she is certain Zhang is going to thrive, wherever life takes her.

“I know she's going to be successful,” Levine said. “No matter what she does in the various steps of her life, whether it's with family, with friends, with colleagues, with professors, with corporate heads, with international people all over the world, she’s going to hold her own and thrive.”