‘I’m going to finish’: Michelle Williams’ return to school sparks a familiar conversation among Black women

Fans celebrated the singer’s decision to pursue higher education while joking about a cultural tradition: always wanting “one more degree.”

Michelle Williams admitted she was hesitant to share her journey of diving deeper into higher education.

The accomplished singer took to social media on Tuesday to push back against those fears, posting a photo of herself wearing a Regent University T-shirt and letting the world know she was indeed heading back to class.

“Chiiiiiiiiile, your girl is back in school!!” she wrote on Instagram. “I talked myself out of posting this! I didn’t even tell family and friends because of the intrusive thought “what if you don’t finish?” I’m going to finish and I’m going to finish strong.”

Williams previously studied at Illinois State University shortly after graduating high school, but didn’t finish her degree, opting instead to bet on her musical talents. After a chance meeting with Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland in Atlanta, the rest, as they say, was history. Williams, alongside Beyoncé and Kelly, would be part of the finalized version of Destiny’s Child, beginning with her appearance in the “Say My Name” video in 2000, before the release of “Independent Woman Pt. 1” from the “Charlie’s Angels” soundtrack.

Now she’s trading in harmonies for coursework. Williams revealed that she was studying psychology at Regent University, a private Christian university in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She even joked that she was going to dive deeper into psych because people “need help.”

“Pray for my endurance and focus!” she exclaimed.

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Fans congratulated Williams on her achievement and desire to get a degree, while simultaneously joking about a platitude many Black women are fondly aware of: no matter the success, they would go back to school to obtain a degree, or in some cases, another degree.

“Black women will be a whole Child of Destiny and will still be like 🤔 ‘Lemme go get another degree,” one user wrote on Threads.