All Sonya Dhanpat M’27 wants is to honor her mother’s legacy.
As a child in Gainesville, Fla., Dhanpat’s mother taught her the importance of giving back to her neighbors.
“My mom used to be this really big community leader,” she explained. “She was really focused on helping low-income kids. From infancy, I was with her in the community. I grew up helping in soup kitchens. When I was seven I was calling bingo in nursing homes.
Now, as an adult, Dhanpat is enrolled in Merrimack’s community engagement graduate program.
“I love Merrimack and the idea of Merrimack,” she said. “It’s so service-oriented. I am the service and community engagement fellow in the Stevens Service Learning Center under Mary McHugh (executive director of civic and community engagement). Having been here for over 30 years, I’m always saying to her, ‘Tell me everything.’”
Part of her responsibilities at the Stevens Service Learning Center include creating service training modules and assessing the office’s service learning and community engagement efforts.
“We are so excited to have Sonja as a fellow this semester,” McHugh said. “She has been a joy to work with, and she brightens our office with her presence and her energy.”
Like most things in her life, Dhanpat didn’t want to merely coast through Merrimack. Right out of the gate, she applied for and was selected to serve as president of the Graduate Student Senate.
“I was always working in high school and college,” she said. “I never got into the student life side of school. I think this is kind of me trying to love my inner child. I also want to make something attainable for my daughter and for little girls who look just like her.”
Dhanpat has big plans to improve the lives of Merrimack graduate students. One graduate resource event she hopes to launch is a “What’s Next?” fair at the end of the academic year.
“You can get headshots, network with other classmates and get some food,” she explained. “It’ll be their last hoorah.”
Prior to enrolling at Merrimack, Dhanpat earned two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Florida – one in religion with a concentration in society and culture and a minor in educational studies, and another in educational sciences with a concentration in diversity and inclusion.
She has worked in education for more than 20 years and in community engagement for more than 35 years. Outside of Merrimack, she serves as the COO of Oak Lane, a management consultancy firm based in Boston, Mass. Despite her professional accomplishments, Dhanpat felt she couldn’t achieve more without a master’s degree.
“This is the only master’s program I applied to in the Boston area,” she said. “There was nothing else for me. The community engagement program felt like it was designed for me. I felt it would tether and bundle my whole career, and I could honor my mom through learning and getting more context about her work.”
