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This Mother & Son With Handmade Graduation Signs Are the Sweetest

Brittney Brooks recently earned her MBA from the University of Maryland University College, and there’s no question who her No. 1 fan is: Mason, her 4-year-old son.

These two might have created our favorite graduation photo of the season. The internet agrees — Brooks and Mason have gone viral with a shot of them holding two signs to celebrate the occasion.

More: 13-Week-Old Baby Says “I Love You,” Shocks World

Brooks’ sign? “I did it!” Mason’s sign? “No! Mom, you mastered it!”


Oh, you guys. Sniff.

Brooks and her sister, avid Pinterest-ers, thought matching signs would be a cute idea for the big day, but Brooks had no clue the photo would explode on social media. It was Brooks’ brother, Xavier Codie Robinson (aka artist Codie Monowi) who shared the photo on Twitter — and it’s been retweeted over 5,000 times. Not half bad for some Pinterest-inspired signs, eh?

“I just wanted to take this with my son and hang it at work or home and share with a couple of friends on social media but I never thought it would be this big,” Brooks told Popsugar.

This MBA was no small achievement for Brooks. She started work on her master’s in 2011 — then learned she was pregnant with Mason. It was all too much at the time, so she hit the pause button on her academic career for a few years.

“I decided to go back in 2015 and never looked back,” she said. “It was very hard and challenging having to work full-time and be a mom and have a social life plus full-time grad school and wedding planning.”

More: 25 inspirational quotes for your favorite graduate

There’s another adoring guy on the sidelines: her fiancé. “He is amazing and a great dad and without him, I wouldn’t be able to do it,” Brooks said. “He is my biggest supporter along with my son and they push me to do better and go further… [There were] times I wanted to give up but they wouldn’t let me. I am forever grateful for them.”

Brooks said she’s aware the picture might make some assume she is a single mom who accomplished this MBA on her own, but she’s adamant about giving credit where credit is due.

“Some people look at the picture and think I did this on my own and that I am a single mom but that’s far from the truth,” she explained. “I had a great support system and even though it was hard and I felt like giving up so many times, I pulled through because I had people depending on me. My advice is to get a positive support system that will encourage you and build you up. It could be family, friends, co-workers, whoever, but that’s what is going to get you through — their words, advice, support, and encouragement.”

We love her attitude — sounds like Brooks has also mastered this whole life thing too.

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