Campus News

Our Students Make It Happen!

1/1/17

We are so proud of our students and their accomplishments.

Meet Daophong Meunsaveng, a Mechatronics student from our Worthington Campus, employed by Bedford Industries. At Minnesota West, we understand many of our students juggle academics, work, and families. Daophong's story is one of perseverance and accomplishment; our favorite story to tell.

Congratulations, Daophong! We are proud of your success and so excited to share your story. Our students are what make Minnesota West a great place to Learn with Purpose!

A Message from Daophong
My name is Daophonh Meunsaveng and I am 47 years old. I never thought that 26 years after I graduated from high school that I would be going back to college. But I did. 

It all started when I applied and got a job as machine maintenance at Bedford Industries. As part of the job reqirement I was to take a two-year course of Mechatronic at Minnesota West. At first I was scared about the college thing. I was afraid that I won’t do good in the classes. Because at that moment in my life, I was working full time at Bedford Industries from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. and I also had a part-time job from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. delivering newspapers for Daily Globe. And then school from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. And I do all of these thing Monday thru Friday. I know it’s a lot. That doesn’t leave much time for rest but that’s what the weekends are for.

So far I have made it through for the first year. My first semester I got all A’s with a GPA of 4.0 and made it on the Dean’s List at Minnesota West. And for my second semester I again got all A’s with the 4.0 GPA. I hope that my story will inspire and encourage others to follow my footsteps and change their lives like I did to mine. Before I accomplished all of these thing, I have doubt like most people would. Like how can I do it. I don’t have time for this. I don’t have the money to pay for it. But I was wrong.

Thanks to Bedford Industries and the State of Minnesota Grant, it made everything all possible for me to pursue my education goals. With the help that I got from this, it give me the encouragement and the will to make the time to make it happen. So far it’s going as planned. With the continuing help from Bedford, I will plan to go after the AAS degree in Mechatronics. Once again, I would like to thank Bedford Industries and the Grant that made it possible for me to change my life. If I can do it, anyone can.

Create your own success story!  Learn with Purpose at Minnesota West.

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