Quila Lee And 3 Daughters To Graduate From GSU

Congratulations are in order for Quila Lee and her daughters, Kamiya, Kayla and Rakiya. On May 7, Lee, 53, and her three beautiful children will graduate together from Georgia State University, each earning different degrees.

According to a press release, Lee, a seventh-grade teacher at Babb Middle School in Clayton County, Georgia, will receive her Master of Arts in Teaching with a focus on secondary education. Her daughter, Rakiya, 31, will earn a Master of Public Administration from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, her second degree from Georgia State University, following her receipt of a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 2017. Meanwhile, twins Kamiya and Kalaya, both 22, are graduating with biology degrees from GSU’s College of Arts & Sciences. Kamiya aims to attend medical school to become a physician, while Kalaya is pursuing a path in veterinary medicine.

This is a full-circle moment for Lee, who earned her first degree in public administration at Kentucky State in 2003. At the time of her graduation, her daughters were also there, sitting in the crowd, cheering her on as she received her diploma.

“Twenty-two years ago, you never could have told me these girls and I would be graduating together,” Lee said in a statement to Georgia State University. “As any mother would be, I am so proud of them.”

Lee’s education journey.

Originally from Detroit, Quila Lee’s journey has always been rooted in resilience and purpose. She earned her bachelor’s degree in social work from Kentucky State University, where she also met her husband Erik, both student-athletes on the track team. Life moved fast from there. While working as a police dispatcher and completing her Master of Public Administration, Quila discovered she was pregnant with twins. Although the timing threatened to derail her plans, a strong support system — from her colleagues in uniform to her professors — helped her persevere and graduate on time.

After 15 years in Kentucky, the Lees made a pivotal move. Erik, a civil engineer, accepted a job with the city of Atlanta, and the family relocated to Austell, Georgia, where they have lived for the last decade. There, their three daughters attended South Cobb High School while Quila joined the Department of Family and Children’s Services as a social worker. Wanting more time with her family, she stepped away from social work. She took on substitute teaching, which eventually led her to her calling as a teacher, first working as a paraprofessional.

That moment would change her trajectory. From supporting students with emotional and behavioral challenges to working closely one-on-one, Quila found fulfillment in the classroom and her calling. Inspired by the impact she was having, she studied for and passed the state certification exam to become a teacher.

By the 2024–25 school year, she officially took charge of her classroom, teaching seventh-grade social studies at Babb Middle School in Clayton County.

The next generation steps up.

Following in their parents’ footsteps, twins Kamiya and Kalaya enrolled at Alabama State University, another HBCU. They had both been involved in their high school band, and Kamiya, like her mom and dad, was captain of the track team. After a few semesters away from home, they realized they wanted to continue their academic journey closer to family — and with the guidance of their older sister Rakiya, they found their next chapter at Georgia State.

Rakiya, who earned her B.S. in Criminal Justice from Georgia State in 2017, had always kept an eye on her alma mater. Working for the City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management — and recently promoted to project manager — she watched downtown Atlanta and Georgia State evolve side by side. When her sisters expressed interest in transferring, Rakiya personally gave them a tour of the campus she knew and loved.

Ironically, the decision to help her sisters also led Rakiya back to school. Though she had long considered returning for a master’s, the idea of taking graduate entrance exams held her back. But then came a well-timed email from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, announcing that entrance exams were no longer required. Encouraged, Rakiya applied — and with strong recommendations from former professors like Dean Dabney and Michael Shapiro — she was accepted into the MPA program in August 2022.

“I still have the acceptance email on my phone to this day,” Rakiya shared. “It was a really surreal feeling, because I knew my sisters were going to be there, and I could be there for them and on the journey with them.”

She added, “When the twins came home in May 2022, we were looking at their course catalog and they said they’d be done in May 2025. It didn’t dawn on me until a year later that I’d be done in May 2025, too.”

Now, as Lee and her daughters prepare to celebrate multiple degrees across two generations, one thing is clear: education isn’t just a chapter in their story, it’s the heartbeat of their legacy.

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