Djene Cherif, B.S. ’26 appreciates everything it took to reach her graduation last month. As a first-generation student, Djene received a lot of support from her family. “Watching my family work hard and make sacrifices pushed me to take my education seriously,” she said. “My degree means more than personal success. It represents progress for my entire family.”
The Samuel G. Rose Scholarship played a pivotal role in her journey at The University of Baltimore as well: “I can’t even explain how many opportunities being a scholarship student gave me.”
"My degree means more than personal success. It represents progress for
my entire family."
Thanks to UBalt’s practical curriculum, she often found synergy between her coursework and her professional responsibilities. “I started at a community college, where I built my foundations and became interested in human resources and data analytics,” Djene said. “The courses I have taken at UBalt correspond with my career. For example, MGMT 425—Employee and Labor Relations—was incredibly useful because I was working as a manager while I took it.”
Her courses also gave her a new focus for her future professional goals. “I’m especially interested in using data to improve workplace equity, diversity and employee experiences,” Djene said. “I’m also passionate about entrepreneurship and plan to continue building my own ventures, including a travel-focused hostel brand centered on community and culture experiences.” Djene, who loves to travel and has visited many countries in South America, hopes she can give people the same opportunities she has had to see the world. She believes experiencing new cultures will help others learn about themselves and the world around them.
While Djene said her time in school gave her a pathway to realize her goals, their true origins began much earlier. Growing up in Baltimore, Djene would attend mosque and see all kinds of people together in community. Encountering many different people united in their faith opened Djene’s eyes to the value of diversity. “You have to learn about different cultures, different types of people, different experiences.” Diversity became important for her in a new way, as a way to bring people together.
Djene’s realization crystallized in the first English course she took in community college when her professor assigned Beloved by Toni Morrison. “Everybody in the class had something that they could relate to,” Djene said. She described that course as an eye-opener. It helped her see the value of diversity in every situation and what learning about different experiences can do to connect individuals.
"I wanted to go to a school that has a mission to support their students in a full capacity. Donors like you made that possible. Once again, thank you for inspiring me to continue to reach beyond the stars. Your generosity makes the world go around."
At UBalt, she found a different kind of diversity among the campus’ nontraditional student body, many of whom also benefit from scholarship support. “For example,” she said, “I had a lot of classmates who were over 60. I learned to value their opinions and needs in the classroom.” UBalt students come from a variety of backgrounds and enroll at a variety of ages. “It’s important to be willing to accept that other experiences are different from yours, and to embrace that.”
After graduation, Djene hopes to let her passion fuel her career. She aspires to be a chief diversity officer so she can use her background in data analytics to ensure that communities, businesses and organizations have what they need to maximize their impacts.
Now a proud first-generation college graduate, Djene reflected on her experience as a scholarship student. “It made me want to give back to my community more,” she said.
Along with all Djene has accomplished personally, professionally and academically, there is more Djene has been inspired to do. “One day, if I can create my own scholarship, I will. Going to school is a privilege. I want to allow anybody to have that privilege.”