Finding A Home At Miami Dade College

For sharks to live, they must keep moving endlessly. They must always find a way forward.

I, like many of the students moving on from our time at Miami Dade College, are the sharks—both in name and in spirit.

Whether we arrived here by choice or by necessity, we had taken a step forward in our life.

When I had first arrived at Miami Dade College, there were times where I felt discouraged—embarrassed even—at the fact that I was “stuck at Dade like everyone else.” However, in time, I found myself a place in this vast and daunting reef of a school.

For me, it came in the form of The Reporter. Being introduced to the student newspaper by a suggestion from my English professor, I came to know that there was more to MDC then being “High School 2.0.”

Starting as an opinion writer, I slowly began to learn how to write articles and that led me to eventually being published in every section of the paper.

What I came to realize was that it wasn’t just about the stories I was writing and the photos I was taking, it was about putting a part of myself in this black ink—in every letter and every punctuation.

I also came to know that forward was never a direction but a state of mind. Forward is the urge to learn what you had never known and work like you never had before.

The last two years were a time for, not finding myself, but creating myself—creating the person I always wanted to be.

I had created my voice, one that I never truly believed I had or ever would have. I made myself into not only a more complete writer, but a more complete person.

At the time of this being published, I will have already reached the end of my MDC journey. I will have walked across the stage of graduation and received my diploma. I may already be on my way to my next destination.

Wherever I may go next, be it near or far, I will be moving forward. I know that I will go on to make myself better than I am now. I will be in search of greater achievements and a brighter future for myself, as should you, the reader.

We stand now at the edge of the reef. Out in front of us, lies the open ocean. Like sharks, we must move forward.