ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF’s DirectConnect program will graduate its 50,000th student on Friday.
- UCF DirectConnect increases minority student graduation
- Program has also helped minority enrollment jump to 47 percent
- DirectConnect will graduate its 50,000th student Friday
The program is entering its 13th year, and so far it helped the university increase degrees awarded to its minority students by almost 400 percent.
Additionally, more than 2,300 degrees were awarded to first-generation students by almost 200 percent with more than 1,600 degrees.
One of those first-generation students is Veronica Lugo from Puerto Rico.
Lugo said she never saw herself graduating from high school, let alone UCF. She dropped out of high school at 17 after she became pregnant.
She suffered in silence.
“I am a (domestic violence) survivor,” Lugo said.
Four years ago, at the age of 24, she said enough was enough. She went back to school at Valencia College and joined the UCF DirectConnect program.
It guarantees admission to students with an Associate’s degree and provides them with coaches like Pam Cavanaugh, UCF Vice Provost for Academic and Student Initiatives, to help guide them.
“We get chills,” Cavanaugh said. “We’re inspired daily to see how we can build momentum for these successes.”
Lugo will graduate Friday with a bachelor’s degree in social work and a minor in nonprofit management.
She secured a job as a social worker for local workers for local elders with Alzheimer’s disease.
Lugo said her new dream is to start a nonprofit to help victims of domestic violence who suffer like she once did.
“I want to help them find that inner voice that they do matter,” Lugo said.
DirectConnect has contributed to the diversity of UCF’s overall student body, growing it from 25 percent minority enrollment in 2006 to 47 percent currently.