" ... something you'll never be at Morris is alone, because Morris always brings a community that has your back."
On a blustery winter day, Khondoker Yasin “Ahnaf” Prio ’19, arrived on the campus of the University of Minnesota Morris for his first semester of college. This significant moment marked the start of a transformative journey for Ahnaf, who came from Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was the first of his family to move to America seeking a higher education outside of their homeland.
It is on this campus and within its walls where his future, hopes and ambitions took shape—and where his heart was warmed by the life-long community of kinship he formed.
“You could be a lot of things in college. At Morris, you could be a person who's enjoying rigorous academics, a person who really enjoys sports or a person who’s just figuring themselves out,” Ahnaf said. “But something you'll never be at Morris is alone, because Morris always brings a community that has your back.”
Ahnaf planned to pursue a degree in physics and study pre-engineering for two years at UMN Morris and then transfer to a larger university. “At first, it was a bit of a culture shock because I couldn’t believe how nice the people were. They held doors open for me and talked to me in passing,” he described. “The transfer never happened because I fell in love with the people at Morris, and I realized it was the perfect place for me.”
