Andy Oquendo’s educational pursuit took an abrupt detour in November of 2010 after a tragic car accident killed his 13-year-old brother and left him in a coma for two months.
More than six years later, Oquendo, who is still impaired by the accident, showed his strength by being one of nearly 14,000 students who walked in five different Miami Dade College graduation ceremonies on April 29.
Oquendo, who is 24, got his associate in arts degree in mass communications, graduating alongside his mom, Nilsa Oquendo, who earned a certificate in massage therapy from the Medical Campus. She fulfilled the dream of her late daughter, Maite Oquendo, who wanted to take the course.
“There is no other words; it’s a miracle,” Nilsa Oquendo said about her graduation. “I’m happy. It never occurred to me when I took the course that I could graduate…I’m very happy and very proud that I can walk next to my son who is a warrior.”
Andy Oquendo, who started his undergraduate educational journey at Florida International University, transferred to Kendall Campus in 2012 after the accident. He plans to return to FIU to complete his bachelor’s degree in mass communications and aspires to work at a television station.
But for now, he is cherishing the moment.
“I feel like a duck in water or whatever that means you know,” Oquendo said. “I feel like I’m at home, you know, these are my peeps.”
Miami Dade College held five commencement ceremonies across two locations—the James L. Knight Center and the Kendall Campus gymnasium.
Each commencement ceremony had a different speaker. Joseph Aoun the president at Northeastern University spoke at the North Campus ceremony; Robert Sanchez, CEO of Ryder Systems, spoke at the InterAmerican and Homestead ceremony; Brian Fitzgerald, CEO of the Business-Higher Education Forum, spoke at the Wolfson and West Campus ceremony; and
Freeman Hrabowski III, the president at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County spoke at the Hialeah and Medical campus ceremony.
“When we come together in common cause, we are greater than the sum of the parts,” said Donna E. Shalala, trustee professor of political science and health policy at the University of Miami, as she closed the evening at the Kendall Campus commencement ceremony. “There is truth in the Ethiopian proverb, when spider webs unite they can tie up a lion.”
Staff writer Alessandra Pacheco contributed to this report.
