UMary helping moms get a college degree

“Every single child is created in the image of God himself, and every single child is valuable and deserving of love and protection,” Msgr. James Shea said during the University of Mary’s Candlelight Gala on Oct. 28. “It is a gift even in the midst of difficult circumstances.”

Monsignor Shea noted that his statement reflected the university’s tagline: University of Mary for Life and was the very cause behind this year’s annual fund-raising event—the University’s new initiative to help single women in unexpected pregnancies get a college degree.

The sold-out $200-a-seat dinner and auction raised a little over $1 million to help launch the Saint Teresa of Calcutta Community for Mothers. The program supports women faced with unexpected pregnancies by offering scholarships to cover room and board and to provide childcare. According to Msgr. Shea, it is a way to practice what the University of Mary preaches. The program will help alleviate reasons that could lead to abortion, he explained, such as a woman feeling she has to choose between having her baby and going to college.

A nurturing community

“The idea for the Community for Mothers is something that the university had been in discussions with the founding benefactors since 2019,” Jerome Richter, Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff, said. “But once COVID hit, it was put on hold. Now, we are able to begin with the help of our friends, benefactors, our internal community and the dear Lord’s support.”

Two students have been accepted for the spring semester which starts in January.

“We are going to provide community and a stable home and environment for them and their child,” Richter said. “They will be loved and supported, and we are going to provide childcare.”

Students also need to do their part, he explained. “The expectation is that they will be a good student and attend school year-round, which will give them the opportunity to get ahead in a prudent and reasonable fashion.”

The university offers three full-time semesters—fall, spring and summer. The program will also work with students helping them identify scholarships, loans and ways for them to cover tuition. It is open to women who are pregnant or have children aged four and under.

The goal is that, eventually, the program will be able to accommodate as many as 50 students a semester. They will reside on the ground floor of the three-story Boniface East dormitory which is supervised by Resident Director Rebecca Hoopes. She is married to Tom, a teacher at the School of the Holy Family in Mandan and is a young mother herself. Hoopes just turned 25 and their daughter Amelia is 15 months old.

“My role is to create a home for these mothers on campus,” Hoopes said. She explained that it will include being sure rooms are conducive to the needs of a baby or child as well as overseeing education programing such as bringing in an occupational therapist from their College of Health Sciences to talk about developmental milestones in children. She will also have an eye on building a community between mothers and helping them integrate into the larger student community, too.

“I’m excited to accompany them on this journey of motherhood while being a college student and all of the challenges that will come with that,” Hoopes said. “I think it’s going to be beneficial to our whole student body; providing a more wholistic view of reality and children. Children are a natural part of life. Your life doesn’t end with motherhood; it just really begins.”

Student shares her thoughts

One of the students accepted into the Motherhood Community for the spring semester agreed to anonymously participate in a written interview. Here are excerpts from that interview:

“I broke up with my boyfriend of almost two years and finally felt like I was on the right path where God needed me to be. A month later, I took a test and found out I was pregnant. It was the most alone I have ever felt. I remember the immense shame and despair I felt. And most of all, my heart broke for this sweet little life that had a father who did not love him or want him.

“Through the Lord's grace, I was able to get the courage to tell my friends and family. It was not at all easy and still shame overwhelms me some days. When my mom told me about what the University of Mary was offering, I could not believe it.

“This program was a light in the darkness for me. I can focus on my degree and get it done as soon as possible and be able to come back home with the means of supporting my baby and me. It brings me so much joy to know that I can do this and have been given the opportunity to do this.

“The world portrays motherhood as a burden, a distraction, something that keeps you from your dreams. Teresa of Calcutta Community of Mothers has reassured and given me a chance that did not seem possible...a mom and baby getting to go to a university… who would have imagined!

“I never would have thought that this is how my life would be at 23 years old, and yes, it is still so hard some days. I see my friends married and having babies and seeing their father love that child and it hurts me to know I’m bringing this baby into a world where he does not have his earthly father to love him.  

“This program for single mothers is proof that the Lord has answered our prayers for mothers like me who think there is no hope or future for them with their child. And proof that He is a loving God to His little children. The support I have already and will continue to feel from this program has continued to reassure all my choices in keeping my baby and trusting that God’s path for me is greater than I could imagine.”