Senior Spotlight 19: Dominica Granada
By Amanda Duchsherer
Digital Communications Specialist
amanda.duchsherer@minotstateu.edu
MINOT, N.D. – In Dominica Granada’s Culbertson, Montana high school yearbook, it was prophesized that she would join the FBI and solve Tupac’s murder.
“At the time, that was a joke,” she laughed. “My first semester here (at Minot State), I was a declared marketing major. I started out in business, I thought that’s what I wanted and where I was most comfortable. But then, I met a couple different professors.”
It was by happenstance that Melissa Spelchen, assistant professor of criminal justice, was one of her honors instructors and Jynette Larshus, associate professor of sociology, taught another one of her courses.
“The way they talked about their classes and the conversations I had with them, I felt more of a connection to them and what they were teaching,” Granada said.
It wasn’t long before she switched her major to criminal justice. Her second major, sociology, was added shortly after. Her law and legal studies minor and political science concentration came later.
“I was sitting in an intro class when sociology was explained to me and I realized I had been thinking that way for a while. It was like this lightbulb went off, ‘I need this degree,’” she said. “It was a passion moment for me.
“A lot of people hear sociology and think it’s just common sense, but it’s not. What you think is common sense is just misconception. If you weren’t influenced by people outside of you or society, how differently would you think?”
Granada doesn’t see herself joining the FBI, no matter how appealing solving Tupac’s case may be. Instead, she wants to use what she’s learned in sociology to help create change in the criminal justice system.
The past president and treasurer of the Criminal Justice Club helped coordinate a trip to Minnesota to tour the state correctional facility and a federal correction camp in 2017. She was inspired by options available at the camp, including different housing levels, a compost system that created a fertilizer business, and prisoners who trained service dogs.
“There are people doing these innovative, creative things. What a lot of people forget is that prisoners are humans, too. Granted, we all make mistakes, and some of them are obviously much worse than others,” Granada said. “But the other part of sociology is that there is free will and free choice, but you’d be surprised how much of that is influenced by what is around you.”
Following graduation, Granada intends to stay in the apartment she shares with her sister, Reneé, a nursing student at Minot State, for the foreseeable future.
“I’ve put down roots,” she said. “I’m involved in a couple things on campus, one being Sigma Delta Sorority, so I have friends here. I’ve put out roots with the various jobs and network connections I’ve made, and, to me, it doesn’t seem like the right time to just up and leave.”
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| Published: 05/10/19 |
