First alumni of Dougherty Family College earn bachelor’s degrees
Forever bonded by a shared achievement, newly inducted alumni Sahra Mohamud, Brenda Saucedo and Krystal Blas Rodriguez have a lot to celebrate. Yes, it was a welcome accomplishment when the three first-generation college students graduated from St. Thomas this spring, as it was for every one of the more than 1,400 of their undergraduate peers who emerged from the pandemic with a St. Thomas diploma in hand. Yet, these young women share another milestone. They are among the first 12 alumni from the inaugural Dougherty Family College (DFC) class to obtain a bachelor’s degree since the two-year, Minneapolis-based college opened its doors in 2017.
Flashing bright smiles, they each beamed recounting how DFC faculty and staff supported their educational goals, dished life lessons, and provided guidance that eased the scholars’ transition from a smaller class size at DFC to the larger, bustling St. Paul campus. “Even if you’re in a space where you feel like you don’t belong, you do belong there,” is one nugget from a DFC professor that resonated with Rodriguez, who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. “That [reassurance] helpedme throughout the last two years of my educational career at St. Thomas,” she said. “Some of the professors at DFC, even if I haven’t talked to them in a while, they would be like friends now.”
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