When Michael Vaudreuil's college classmates were in the library studying together at night, he was wiping down chalkboards and picking up their trash. But this weekend, donning a black cap and gown, he stood with them not as a 54-year-old college custodian but as a fellow undergraduate. It was 2008, the year of the economic downturn, when Vaudreuil filed for bankruptcy, he lost his house to foreclosure and his car was repossessed. His thriving 24-year plastering business had ground to a halt as the economy waned. The only work he could find was as a night custodian at a local college. It was about a 50 percent pay cut, the work wasn't stimulating, but the benefits were good. He decided he would take advantage of every free benefit the school offered so it would feel like he was making more money. So Vaudreuil started taking undergraduate classes tuition free at the college by day, and cleaning up after his classmates by night. He did schoolwork in the early mornings and after class in the afternoons before he started his 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift cleaning the academic building bathrooms and scrubbing the floors. Nearly a decade later, Vaudreuil graduated on May 14 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. At the graduation ceremony, his whole family was there to see him receive his diploma. Surrounded by fellow graduates half his age, he took a little bow. And the crowd cheered.