On a blustery winter day, Khondoker Yasin “Ahnaf” Prio ’19 arrived on the campus of the University of Minnesota Morris for his first semester of college. This significant moment marked the start of a transformative journey for Ahnaf, who came from Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was the first of his family to move to America seeking a higher education outside of their homeland.
It is on this campus and within its walls where his future, hopes and ambitions took shape—and where his heart was warmed by the life-long community of kinship he formed.
“You could be a lot of things in college. At Morris, you could be a person who's enjoying rigorous academics, a person who really enjoys sports or a person who’s just figuring themselves out,” Ahnaf said. “But something you'll never be at Morris is alone, because Morris always brings a community that has your back.”
Ahnaf planned to pursue a degree in physics and study pre-engineering for two years at UMN Morris and then transfer to a larger university. “At first, it was a bit of a culture shock because I couldn’t believe how nice the people were. They held doors open for me and talked to me in passing,” he described. “The transfer never happened because I fell in love with the people at Morris, and I realized it was the perfect place for me.”
Ahnaf enjoyed the varied coursework and diversity in class offerings, especially the liberal arts classes. His outgoing, vibrant personality made it easy to get involved in extracurricular activities on and off campus. Two of his favorites were joining the computer science club and being a founding member of the Muslim Students Association. Ahnaf thoroughly enjoyed his immersive college experience. But as his first spring semester wrapped up, he realized a physics major was not the right fit for him. He worried he may have to go back to Bangladesh if he could not figure out what to do next.
Ahnaf spent the summer with family in New York. “I thought I would visit them and then return to Dhaka. I didn’t think I would be able to go back to Morris because I couldn’t keep spending money on a major that wasn’t working out,” he shared. While he was in New York, a family friend asked him to build a website. Ahnaf did not know how to develop websites or write code, but he has never shied away from a challenge. His mindset of ‘just figure it out’ kicked in, and he began to quickly realize he was meant to use technology to solve problems. “I fell in love with building websites and writing code. I had the greatest summer ever,” Ahnaf said.
He returned to the Morris campus in the fall with a renewed enthusiasm and determination to switch his major to computer science. He connected with Kristin Lamberty, an associate computer science professor at UMN Morris, and she helped him change course to computer science. “She made it super easy and a good experience. She helped me lay everything out. I don't think I would've been able to graduate on time without her,” Ahnaf said. Lamberty is one of many professors he credits for setting him up for success. “I felt like everyone genuinely wanted to help me succeed,” he explained. “They taught me that opportunity exists in every place and that it’s OK to fail sometimes. It’s a life lesson that has made it easier to try new things and put myself out there.”
Ahnaf spent countless hours in the computer labs, well into the early morning hours, completely absorbed in the technology and figuring out solutions to technical obstacles. “I realized I was staying after hours in the labs not because of the homework, but because I loved it,” Ahnaf said. “I found something I was good at and really enjoyed. Not a lot of people can say that.”
He also organized an informal software engineering club with a few of his fellow classmates and friends to build websites for local businesses that needed support. They worked on many projects together, calling themselves Megabittron, a name inspired by their class group name in their original software design course. This appetite for more knowledge, coupled with his hard work, helped him secure a paid internship at the UMN Morris Office of Sustainability as an engineering analyst. He wrote code that helped the office predict electricity consumption for the entire campus. “It was an amazing opportunity to do research about top sustainability programs, and the position helped me pay for my junior year of college,” Ahnaf said. He later became a marketing technologist with the Office of Admissions where he helped improve their website for international student recruitment.
He attributes the connections and experience he gained at UMN Morris with preparing him for an enterprise-level software engineering internship he received in northeast Minneapolis during his senior year. The culmination of Ahnaf’s UMN Morris education, dedication, and internships helped him attract the attention of Securian Financial, a Fortune 500 company in Minneapolis, shortly before graduation in 2019. The company hired him right out of college to work on their customer-facing interfaces, including mobile apps and websites. Ahnaf serves as a senior consultant on a team of 15, has completed two major projects from start to finish in three years, and he does not plan to slow down.
His love of learning and coding led him to collaborate with friends from Minneapolis and UMN Morris in a start-up business during the pandemic. They developed Tavolo, a dining app that allows users to make reservations and pay for food before arriving at the restaurant for a sit-down meal. “I’m a huge foodie, and we wanted to help the restaurant industry get back some of the business they lost during COVID,” Ahnaf explained. The app promotes a seamless, convenient user experience while helping restaurant owners make better business decisions based on real-time data and operational intelligence.
Fifty restaurants in the Twin Cities area use the Tavolo platform, and Ahnaf expects that number to increase to 100 by the end of 2022. “There’s so much opportunity to engage in cutting-edge data and analytics to help businesses improve their efficiency and operations. It’s exciting,” Ahnaf explained. In 2021, Tavolo was awarded the Emerging Startup of the Year award by the Twin Cities Startup Week.
Even in this new venture, UMN Morris plays a significant role through the relationships he formed. “I think Morris prepared me for the future in the best way possible. It sent me out in the real world knowing that there's no problem you can't solve if you put your heart and mind to it. With proper dedication and perseverance, you can get through anything,” Ahnaf explained. “My experience there taught me many things I still use in my daily life.”
Ahnaf stays in touch with many people he met at Morris, and he currently serves on the university’s Alumni Association board of directors as the first international student to do so. He looks forward to his annual visit to the campus during homecoming week. This year’s visit is extra special as Ahnaf’s younger brother plans to attend UMN Morris this fall.
Ahnaf continues to revel in the genuine kindness and approachability of the students and staff, and he hopes his brother will have the same experience. UMN Morris provided more than a quality education for Ahnaf; it provided a sense of home, community, and fellowship he will always come back to. “I made so many friendships with students, professors, employees, and the local community—even the campus itself. The university is bundle of joy in a close-knit community,” he said. “If it was a person, it would probably be my best friend.”
" ... something you'll never be at Morris is alone, because Morris always brings a community that has your back."