91����

“I have a deep desire to help alumni and parents stay connected to the TAC community and have them feel a sense of being a part of the family,” says Sarah Dufresne (’14), the College’s new director of alumni and parent relations. “The experience of being a student continues to bear fruit in the lives of the College's graduates, and it is important that they always feel that this is a home for them.”

Though she grew up a short distance from the California campus, Miss Dufresne had little awareness of 91���� until high school. One teacher, alumna Brigid (McCarthy ’04) Strader, made a great impression. “I had her for theology for two years and was deeply impacted by her presence in my life,” Miss Dufresne recalls. “I realized, wherever this woman had attended college, she had been prepared to teach theology in such a way that could move both the mind and heart.”

On her first visit to campus, Miss Dufresne was struck by the goodness and joy that emanated from every student and faculty member. Those virtues were only amplified, she found, when she enrolled as a freshman and began taking classes. “I had a newfound sense of freedom,” she notes. “My soul and my mind were experiencing the kind of true freedom we talk about so often here. I was so inspired, seeing good and faithful people genuinely seeking what was true and beautiful. I had never experienced anything quite like it.”

Miss Dufresne’s love for the College only grew stronger as her student career flourished. Following her graduation in 2014, she was quick to accept the resident director role at her alma mater. “I felt like I had a debt to repay, after receiving the beautiful gift of this education, and I was happy to give back a little. We owe a debt to the College's founders that can never be fully repaid.”

Three years later, she transferred to the Admissions department, where she helped to share the fruits of her education with prospective students and their families. Her favorite part of both jobs: helping students and visitors feel seen, known, and loved, inviting them to consider the College’s unique education and culture. “One of the things I really love about the College is that your friends, the tutors, upperclassmen — anyone is willing to pause and get to know you,” she says. “I try to model that in my work. The education and formation we receive here is such a gift and something that I think must be shared with the wider Church and world.”

In 2021, Miss Dufresne took a job at the Augustinian-run Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai, California, where she served as the director of the school’s boarding program and Augustinian mission, “to strengthen the Catholic identity and character within the boarding school and faculty.” Many of the students she met had little connection to their Catholic faith, or no faith at all, and Miss Dufresne found great reward in helping them discover a love for Christ and His church. “I believe deeply that everyone has a religious sense and that, as Catholics, we must help others recover it. People have a profound desire to know what they are made for and for whom they should live.”

Now, she has returned to serve her alma mater once more, ready to connect with the College’s vast network of parents and alumni. “The College is like a well for many people,” she says. “My goal is to reconnect people with the wellspring that has already given them so much, to remind them that TAC can still be a source of life and growth even after graduation.”

As she takes on her new role, Miss Dufresne plans to be an accessible, reliable liaison for parents and alumni. She especially hopes to engage students’ families, sharing what the College has to offer by promoting its publications and podcasts, hosting events on both campuses, and simply getting to know those who love her alma mater just as much as she does.

“The beautiful thing about 91���� is that, if you have a child, a grandchild, a niece or nephew enrolled, this is your home as well as theirs, which is really special,” she explains. “Though there are some aspects of student life and culture sacred to the student experience, there are many other ways to stay involved in the life of the College. I am excited to strengthen the bonds with our alumni and parent community. Our founders believed sincerely that the College was a place where the truth was to be pursued for its own sake and that it is a profound gift to be shared upon graduating. I want our parents and alumni to always feel welcomed in the place where they were formed and where their children are being formed.”