Congratulations to all 2020 graduates, including undergraduates, graduates and those from Dougherty Family College! Although we cannot celebrate in-person as planned, we can still commemorate this class' achievements. Let’s look back at all of the remarkable things they did while they were Tommies.
Undergraduate
Marissa Abara and Erin Robb were a part of the 2018 Excel! Scholars Summer Research Symposium.
Safe-keeping box
Abby Westphal
St. Thomas staff photographer Mark Brown asked a small sample of first-year students about the most important thing they brought with them when moving to campus. Those interviewed included Nolan Adams, True Dabill, Hannah French, Maya Imoto, Emily Larsen, Joe Lemmer, Tim Lyngdal, Madison Morehouse and Abby Westphal.
Seven St. Thomas students, Matt Adeola, Malcolm Lawson, Robel Ponds, Amin Mahamoud, Mohamed Mahamud, Jordan Schenck and Riccardo Williams, were part of a 12-student cohort of African American men named Ciresi Walburn Scholars in 2018.
Student Education teachers Molly Altermatt, Ellie Davenport, Sarah Kubes and Pame Portillo, commented on the K-12 shift to distance learning in 2020.
Senior Tommy Anderson, an Actuarial Science major and basketball player, poses for a photo.
Actuarial science student Tommy Anderson received the CAS Trust Scholarship from the Casualty Actuarial Society in 2019.
Dylan Barrett was featured in Humans of St. Thomas article in 2018.
St. Thomas teams were chosen for the 2020 Fowler Global Social Innovation challenge finals, with BraillEazy taking first place (Amanda Baumgart) and runner-up team Bokashi Composting (Sophia Brown and Karl Buttel).
Abenezer Ayana speaks to fellow members of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) student organization.
Student clubs on campus, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), lead by Abenezer Ayana and Faiza Hirsi, offer opportunities and community for students of color in STEM.
Tommie Award nominees Brandt Berube, Dylan Barrett, Martina Golden, Logan Monahan, Madison Morehouse, Julia Pohlman, Hannah Rumon, Anna Smith, Elizabeth Stephenson, Natalie Stoner, Chioma Uwagwu and Danielle Wong, reflected and shared advice to incoming students.
ROTC cadets Ellise Brennan and Wyatt Melloy learned languages and cultures around the world as part of Project Global Officer.
Ellise Brennan was also recently awarded a Boren Scholarship to study in Jordan during the 2020-21 academic year.
Sophia Brown, Christina Ippoliti and Marisa Smedsrud traveled to San Francisco for the global Hult Prize competition in March 2018, becoming the first St. Thomas team to advance to the final round in five years of Tommies participating.
The St. Thomas Veterans Resource Center impacts student lives, including Ben Burns and Allison Kruse.
The St. Thomas Dance Team performs during a basketball game at U.S. Bank Stadium against University of Wisconsin - River Falls on Nov. 30, 2018, in Minneapolis.
Alayna Carlson, Zoe Carlson, Hennelie Hawes, Hayley Kraft, Maren Mosley, Lia Saari, Kristi Stivers and Rachel Van Berkom were part of the University of St. Thomas Dance Team winning a national hip-hop title in 2017.
Zoe Carlson, Hennelie Hawes, Haley Kraft and Maren Mosley won two national dance championships in 2019.
Gina Carter, Geena Stepp and Danielle Wong commented on how being involved in a music ensemble has introduced them to new cultures and experiences.
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School graduate Joshua Crespo was one of 10 students part of a youth research team that came together with St. Thomas students throughout the 2015-16 academic year to explore issues related to first-generation students and college access.
Caroline Crowley wrote original articles for the Newsroom, including "Business Degree Boosted These Tommie Restaurateurs," "Common Talks Mental Health, Activism and More at St. Thomas" and "Tommie Communications Gives Students Real-world Communications Agency Experience."
Keanu Daley, Logan Monahan and Danielle Wong were all featured in Humans of St. Thomas stories and nominated for the 2020 Tommie Award. Daley was awarded the 2020 Tommie Award.
Ellie Davenport was highlighted in a story about how she is a world champion in log rolling.
Senior Hayley Dunning poses for a portrait in a dugout at the St. Thomas softball field on Oct. 30, 2019, in St. Paul.
Hayley Dunning was featured in a Humans of St. Thomas article in 2019.
Alyssa Eggersgluss is the Playful Learning Lab’s education lead. She also participated in the We March for Justice trip in 2020.
Summer Erickson and Chioma Uwagwu were both part of the College of Arts and Sciences’ SOLV Initiative.
As a first-year student, Peter Farley assisted Andrew Hafferman in developing the software used to automate the FarmBot and helped hang the LED lights in the south campus greenhouse.
Kenzie Fannin and Katie Foy contributed to the 2017 "List of Lists – Top Weekend Activities On (and Off) Campus" story.
Cassie Froese commented on the English Department's new Professional Writing Emphasis track.
Hannah French is the project manager of OK Go Sandbox, a Playful Learning Lab collaboration with the rock band OK Go that includes an education display/activity setup outside select OK Go concerts.
AFROTC cadets, from left, Henry Larson, David Linn and Samuel Gentle pose for a photo outside of Loras Hall in St. Paul.
Seniors Sam Gentle, Henry Larson and David Linn were all selected for the Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP), an extremely selective, nationwide program that fully funds students’ four years of attending medical school.
Collin Goldbach has been making personal protective equipment (PPE) to support the Twin Cities medical community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hennelie Hawes, Haley Kraft and Maren Mosley won two national championships at the UDA College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship in 2020.
Through field research and high-level data analysis, Emma Hodapp and Shayna Thostenson were among 10 first-year students and two CAS professors who attempted to get to the bottom of the plover’s shrinking habitat as part of the Sustainability Learning Living Community program in 2017.
Paige Huschka was one of four students selected as St. Thomas’ University Innovation “leadership circle” in 2016. She also collaborated with the Playful Learning Lab to help rock band OK Go create OK Go Sandbox.
St. Thomas seniors Maddy Morehouse, left, and Sarah Isse, right, work alongside teen youth, volunteering at Cookie Cart, a bakery and non-profit that employs teenagers, providing them with leadership skills and work experience.
Senior business students Sarah Isse and Madison Morehouse teamed with Minneapolis nonprofit Cookie Cart to bring about 15 of its student workers to St. Thomas for a full-day Beginning Business Acumen Conference, exposing them to life as college students and connecting their budding skill sets to college futures.
William Johnson and Jadelyn Schack commented on "What Do Scholarships Mean to Tommies?"
ROTC cadet Savannah Johnson was selected for three prestigious national-level awards in 2019.
Joanell Leggett and Taylor Stickler were quoted during St. Thomas Homecoming in 2017.
Maggie Martin spearheaded the creation of the Awakenings program, which gives students returning from the Empower semester opportunities to impact change around issues they were exposed to and explored in Italy, with an emphasis on helping refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants.
Lucas Manke was named the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps top cadet in the nation in 2019.
Lucas Manke, Logan Monahan and Jackie Page were named University Innovation Fellows in 2018.
Mary Miley was one of 48 students that took Dalma Martinović-Weigelt and Kurt Illig’s online summer biology course in 2017.
Student government president Logan Monahan takes a selfie during the annual March Through the Arches celebration. Mark Brown/University of St. Thomas
As the undergraduate student government president, Logan Monahan addressed the Class of 2023 during the March Through the Arches.
Dustyn Montgomery was one of seven St. Thomas students in his cohort within the 2017 Excel! Research Scholars program, a postbaccalaureate achievement program that helps undergraduate students to complete their degree, and be prepared to apply to, be competitive for and excel in graduate school.
Madison Morehouse was named a 2018 Principal Community Scholar. She was one of 11 students from Iowa and Minnesota chosen to be part of the program.
Maren Mosley said seeing real-world examples of how engineering can impact lives through the Under-Told Stories Project changed the way she looked at her work.
Caroline Nathan commented on how the March Through the Arches is a "great way to build community and show these first-years there are so many people who are genuinely interested in them.”
Kate Nechanicky and Regan Skoogman described what St. Thomas' purple means to them.
Maria Neuzil was one of two students from the College of Arts and Sciences that was selected as a recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship in 2019.
Jackie Page was quoted about St. Thomas' sustainability curriculum and initiatives.
Rachel Petruconis wrote about the 25th anniversary of Catholic Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.
During Tutor-Mentor’s second year, Julia Pohlman, student director of Tommies Together Volunteer Center (TTVC), tripled participation in the program.
Emily Reuvers wrote stories for the Newsroom, including "Emerging Technology Drives Skills Development in Opus' EmTech Series" and "'Jesus Approaches' Book Winning Awards."
Zoe Robinson commented on how a 2017 talk by Kristi Hemmer, founder and CEO of the Academy for Women’s Empowerment, really made an impact.
Hunter Santos and other student leaders came together in March 2019 to discuss what support within the St. Thomas community looks like in the face of religious intolerance.
Student Meghan Sharkus poses for a portrait on the third floor of the Anderson Student Center Nov. 29, 2016.
Meghan Sharkus was featured in a Humans of St. Thomas article about her business ExpressionMed, which is dedicated to improving the education, design appeal and safety of insulin kits for children with diabetes. She was also a part of the winning group during the 2017 U.S. Bank Make-a-Thon.
Hannah Rose Shogren Smith wrote the story "How an Image Has Power" in 2020.
Emma Smith was featured in a Humans of St. Thomas story for her passion for sustainability.
Mechanical engineering major, founder of Tommie Outdoors and VISION participant Stephen Spadafora was featured in a Humans of St. Thomas article in 2020.
Andrew Spencer received a Newman Civic Fellowship in 2019.
Natalie Stoner commented on how being a high school valedictorian brought her to St. Thomas. She was also one of the club leaders who put on a Zoom dance party with the members of the St. Thomas Special Olympics Club and members of the Highland Friendship Club (HFC) during COVID-19.
Engineering students Meheret Tadesse '20, Henry Martinson '19 and Charles Lundquist '19 pose with the tactile diagram scanner technology they helped to develop. Liam James Doyle/University of St. Thomas
Meheret Tadesse contributed to the development of the School of Engineering's tactile diagram scanner.
Will Toonen was one of five football players that were flown to St. Jude’s global headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, for the organization’s annual Collegiate Leadership Seminar in 2019.
The Newsroom Intern Angie Vognild wrote stories ranging from Humans of St. Thomas features to others like "The Future of Self-Driving Cars According to Sara Sargent ‘17" and "Ande Nesmith Awarded Fulbright Grant While on Sabbatical."
As a sophomore, Emily Walsh helped engineering professors to develop a workable prototype to test sorghum sap.
Anastasia Washburn wrote "The Feeling of Home" in 2018.
Chloe Weber explained how STELAR led a massive shift to online learning during COVID-19.
Julia Wickham will study and research abroad for the 2020-21 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.
Student trainer Lauren Wikstrom helps motivate students, faculty, and staff to become healthier versions of themselves through Tommie Training.
Drew Winkoski said the School of Engineering's Compleat Engineer Boot Camp "helped him recognize different ways of thinking."
Danielle Wong
An MPR Internship put Danielle Wong on the front lines of a protest in 2017. She also commented on Common's talk during St. Thomas’ Homecoming-Family Weekend festivities in 2018.
Graduate and School of Law
Jacq Congello completed a business law externship with Children’s Minnesota in summer 2019.
Portrait of law student Samia Corbett in the Schulze Grand Atrium on the Minneapolis campus taken on April 23, 2019. Samia was photographed for a Humans of St. Thomas written feature.
Samia Corbett was featured in a Humans of St. Thomas story about how she came to St. Thomas Law from Chicago.
Third-year law students Nathaniel Fouch and Erik Money, under the supervision of Professor Thomas Berg, authorized the brief Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru in 2020.
In 2020, Michelle Gonzalez was awarded a postgraduate fellowship with Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC). She is one of just 26 law students from across the country to be chosen by IJC as a Justice Fellow.
Kiersten Idzorek and Mark Landauer took first place in the 2020 National Patent Application Drafting Competition.
Michelle Johnson wrote the story, "Preet Bharara Speaks at St. Thomas Law – Why Integrity and Ethics Matter in the 21st Century."
Aurelia Phillips
Aurelia Phillips was elected the American Bar Association's National Delegate of Programming in 2019.
This past summer, Diana Rosemberg completed an externship with Thomson Reuters in its Global Privacy Program.
Stephanie Wolf will continue her work through the newly established Advanced Trademark Clinic at St. Thomas Law.
Dougherty Family College
Nineteen students received full-tuition scholarships for continuing their education at St. Thomas. These students include Rahmo Abdullahi, Anisa Ali, Kaitlin Anthony, Gadiel Castillo, Albert Montano Cruz, Araceli Gomez, Hannah Ibrahim, Habtamu Lajebo, Bertha (Bea) Valencia Martinez, Fatuma Mohamed, Jorge Monfil, Christopher Nguyen, Suad Nur, Jasmin Sanchez, Nancy Sanchez, Adrian Subryan, Makda (Mickey) Tesfay, Kong Xiong and Nasteho Yasin.
Dougherty Family College student Tamu Lajebo, right, and his mentor Professor Aura Wharton-Beck pose together for a portrait outside of Opus Hall on the Minneapolis campus on Aug. 22, 2019.
Tamu Lajebo was involved in a sustainability-focused Excel! Research Scholar summer program.
Mickey Tesfay commented on DFC's move to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of the Professional Internship Program, Jasmin Sanchez has been interning at U.S. Bank for two years.
Nasteho Mahad Yasin was one of eight students to go on the We March for Justice study tour.
