‘This is Me Giving Back’

Assistant Dean of Students Sabine Dupoux Shines Light on Her Journey as a First Generation College Student

By Isabelle Mascary | Editor-in-Chief

In the midst of the pandemic two and a half years ago, Sabine Dupoux became the Assistant Dean of Students at the Leominster campus and has been a part of the Mount family ever since. She is a first generation Haitian-American graduate with her Master’s degree in Business Administration. 

She oversees the food pantry in Gardner and Leominster and also oversees the management operations of the Leominster building to ensure safety for faculty, staff and students. “My role is to ensure that students are successful inside and outside of the classroom,” she said. 

The Mount’s newly-renovated Leominster campus is a particular pride and joy for Dupoux. After some setbacks (partially due to COVID-19), there was a limited number of students in the building and then during construction, the building was completely closed. But Dupoux was eager to share, “We just completed an eight-month renovation reconstruction project for this campus.” 

Although she did not create the blueprint, she was still able to add components (such as water refill stations) to the design based on listening and knowing about the needs of the community college student. “I don’t have a background in construction or project management,” she said. “To see something on paper come to life is incredible.” 

 The primary focus for Dupoux has always been the students, however. “Every component that one sees along the way, you will see that we were very thoughtful in the process of what it’s like to be a student here and what we want to offer our students,” shared Dupoux.

Before joining the Mount family, she was a recruitment counselor at Quinsigamond Community College. “I was always in high school talking to the student population, mainly sophomore juniors and seniors.”  She recruited and worked closely with other departments within the community college to build the rapport of student needs. That role prepared her for the position she is in now. 

A community college graduate herself, Dupoux considers her work as coming “full circle,” explaining, “This is me giving back what I received when I was a student. I was a single parent taking five classes per semester, working part time at the admissions office. I was a tour guide at the time at Quinsigamond.”

Dupoux majored in business administration and graduated with an associates degree from Quinsigamond before moving onto Bay Path University and Fitchburg State, receiving her bachelor’s and master’s respectively. 

Coming from a family of educators, Dupoux believed that teaching wasn’t the career path for her, despite her parents’ wishes. Her father wanted her to be a teacher and her mother wanted her to be a nurse. “I’m a rebel, and my parents learned that when I was pretty young,” she explained. “I wanted to go into business and work in a corner pocket office at the center of State Street and do accounting.” But after working in the admissions office part time at Quinsigamond, she received the insight that she needed to hone in on her purpose. 

“I always thought education meant just teaching in the classroom. I didn’t know there were different areas where you can just help people in higher ed,” she said while adding, “When you’re working as a team for the same goal for one student or for a thousand students, that’s so fulfilling by itself and it’s so powerful. That’s how I ended up right here.” 

Dupoux is the youngest of the three and has two older brothers. She was born in Boston but raised in a couple of places. “I lived in New York, lived in Boston, lived in Florida and lived in Worcester for a couple of years and currently reside there.”

When asked what some of the obstacles are surrounding her position, Dupoux shared, “Since the generation changes every academic school year, there’s a new challenge that a student presents to you that you think could never happen,” she said. Being that she is “solution driven,” she admitted, “If I can’t solve it right then and there, that’s a challenge for me, and also understanding that it may not be something that needs to be solved,” adding that “It’s the challenge of growing in my position by helping students grow as well.” 

Her hobbies include reading, swimming, coloring, and music. “I am a music junkie. I love music.” As busy as she is with people all day long, Dupoux needs her time to decompress just like anyone else. “I love my quiet time and my alone time. Those are the things I enjoy the most,” she admitted.

For Dupoux, communication is key, and she advises students to always voice their concerns and problems. “A person doesn’t know what you’re going through until you say something,” said Dupoux. Sometimes talking about it might be all a student needs to do. 

Sincerity is another value of hers, and it’s part of what she loves about being at the Mount. “We’re very genuine in what we say to our students,” she said, adding, “If a staff person asks a student, ‘how are you doing today?’ We’re asking because we care, we’re asking because we want to know.” 

Dupoux also emphasized two crucial pieces of advice she has for students, “Have fun by getting involved in what’s happening on campus. You don’t know what you like until you really try it,” and lastly, “Define your own success; don’t let others determine what that success is.” 

Her culture is something that has influenced her in many ways. She shared an old saying, “If a goat has a goat in a pigsty, what is it? It’s still a goat.” With this in mind, Dupoux parent’s stance was, “‘Even though you were born in America, you’re Haitian and we’re going to raise you as a Haitian.’” 

During her highschool years, her parents realized she was going to do what she wanted to do as long as it made her happy. “As an adult I’m more conscious of the decisions I make, what I do and what direction I go in, especially having a fifteen year old daughter,” said Dupoux.

In a Haitian community, the feelings and thoughts of the children don’t matter as much because the parents pay the bills. That mindset has influenced Dupoux’s parenting style a great deal. “If we were moving to another state,” she said, “I would ask my daughter how she feels about it because I need to know how it affects my child. Unlike in my time: if we moved, we moved,” she said. Reflecting on her path and her relationship with her parents, she said, “They’re proud of the work that I have done, and they see the progress because they know what I have been through and to be able to give back I think that brings them a significant amount of joy, as well. They make sure they remind me of that every day.”

Resisting “Americanization” while dealing with high expectations from her parents and culture was a challenge for her. “That Haitian mentality gets to you, and it can limit you,” she said, “It’s hard. I’m in the culture. But you have to live for you. It took me a long time to get there.”