Mother-daughter duo graduate with MBAs at the same time
Monday morning, a mother and daughter did something pretty rare at the University of Minnesota: They got their degrees at the same time.
"To be here today, it was something I never thought I would be capable of being a part of," said Samantha Soupir.
She always thought her parents would be there when she received her MBA degree at the U. But she never envisioned her mom Shelly would get the same degree, at the same time, at the same school.
It all began with a conversation during a mother-daughter road trip.
"She was like, 'Why don't you go back?' And I was like, 'Why haven't you ever gone back?' And then we had this conversation of, 'I'll go back if you go back,'" said Samantha Soupir.
So they did, applying for the Carlson School of Management's MBA program and receiving their acceptance letters around the same time. They even took classes together.
"We had students that we had classes with at different times who would get us confused, because obviously our first names begin with 'S,' our last names are the same and we do somewhat look alike," said Shelly Soupir.
And of course, there was a friendly rivalry when it came to grades.
"There definitely were classes where we were competing against each other for grades, and, 'How did you do on this test? How did you do on the final?'" said Shelly Soupir.
It was fun for Chad Soupir to watch. He's Shelly's husband and Samantha's father.
"They were always competitive to see who had a better grade in the class. I was like, 'Whatever,'" said Chad Soupir with a chuckle.
But on Monday morning, that friendly competition paid off.
"I'm extremely proud," said Chad Soupir. "It's hard to put into words. It's an extreme accomplishment."
Getting their degrees together is only part of the story. Shelly and Samantha Soupir are a mother-daughter duo far beyond the classroom.
The women ran a Boston Marathon together, and now they've crossed the finish line at the U.
"It's truly been one of those things where I've been fortunate to raise a human that I truly love and we really have a lot of things in common," said Shelly Soupir.
"She's my mom first, but my best friend. And I'm so grateful I get to do life with someone I can't get enough time with," said Samantha Soupir.
Shelly lives in Omaha and did a good portion of her MBA courses online.
Both she and Samantha already have full-time jobs and they say they will use their degrees to advance their careers.
