Cheryl Daggett
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Office: AD-219
Phone: 207-859-1118
Email: [email protected]
EIN: 01-0263385
Thomas College's Longtime Nurse Practitioner Retires as Major Donor: Cheryl Daggett's 18 Years of Giving Adds Up
When she interviewed for the position of Director of Health Services at Thomas, Cheryl Daggett NP felt an instant kinship with the College. As she toured the health center for the first time, she noticed a framed Christmas card on the wall and realized that it was one she had sent to her longtime friend and colleague, Sally Colby, years prior. Colby was leaving her post as Thomas’s nurse, and Daggett took this as a sign that she was in exactly the right place.
“I was so well interviewed for the position,” Daggett said. “I talked to so many people from all aspects of the College, and I was so impressed with such a thorough and intentional process. I remember my last interview of the day with the Provost, and I said to him, ‘I’m really looking forward to having the chance to talk about you offering me this position.’ I just felt so confident that it was a really good fit, and two days later, I received the call with an offer.”
Daggett arrived at the College with 28 years of experience serving Maine Family Planning as a nurse practitioner. In that position, college students were a major focus of her work, along with their parents and siblings. As it turned out, that experience gave her not only the skills of providing health care and guidance to college students; it also gave her the tools she needed to communicate with parents and families.
“Our students come to Thomas wanting an experience of community, of family, and of home,” said Daggett. “I heard the same thing from their parents. It reassures them that they are going to be heard and taken seriously and that their children are also going to be heard. And it makes a huge difference.”
As she neared her retirement in June 2026, the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations began a conversation with Daggett to honor her longstanding impact as a donor. After 18 years of giving through regular payroll deductions and occasional designated gifts, Daggett grew into a major donor for Thomas.
“I had no idea I was making that much of an impact,” Daggett said. “It doesn’t really feel like I was here for 18 years. It wasn’t like I was counting down the days until I was finished. I did it because I loved it. I still do.”
As she reflected on her experience at Thomas, Daggett shared the impact of special relationships she formed with colleagues and staff over the years.
“A big part of my support went to the Rebecca Kane Memorial Scholarship,” she said, referring to the beloved Thomas staff member who ran the Welcome Center for seven years until her passing in 2017. “The way she greeted anyone who walked up to her desk was amazing. She truly embraced everyone with a ray of sunshine.”
When asked what prompted her generosity to the College over the years, Daggett replied with stories of her family and upbringing. Her father grew up in the small mill town of Gilman, Vermont, and he had to cross state lines to Littleton, New Hampshire to go to school. He eventually became an engineer and his sister, Daggett’s aunt, became a registered nurse. On her maternal line, her grandmother had become a nurse, and her mother had been enrolled in the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital Training School for Nurses (now Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center) when WWII broke out, which interrupted her training.
“I think giving to the College was just a part of my history,” she said. “My father was one of the first ones in his family to get an education, and it became a kind of generational, moving-forward opportunity. The pride these people in Vermont and New Hampshire had for those who went to school! So, my parents made a commitment, and every Friday night, I’d watch them sit with their envelopes and put money into different ones. That was the college fund for me and my two sisters.”
Daggett’s love for Thomas and its students prompted her to pay it forward, and she spoke of her hope that her colleagues who remain at the College will be inspired by her example.
“We’re all part of the same tapestry, the same fabric,” she said. “We all have the same desire to be enough, to be loved, and to be kind. This is one way to do that without conditions. Just take a step back and look at yourself and ask what matters to you, truly.”