{"id":16204,"date":"2019-05-17T20:25:17","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T00:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mdcthereporter.com\/?p=16204"},"modified":"2020-06-18T14:28:08","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T18:28:08","slug":"more-than-13000-graduates-send-off-the-beyonce-of-mdc-at-commencement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/more-than-13000-graduates-send-off-the-beyonce-of-mdc-at-commencement\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than 13,000 Graduates Send Off The \u2018Beyonc\u00e9\u2019 Of MDC At Commencement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ruth Castillo sat in the empty arena at the University of Miami\u2019s Watsco Center an hour before her commencement ceremony, sporting a soft smile<\/span>\u2014<\/span>patiently waiting to receive her college degree. <\/span><\/p>\n

Castillo, 58, saw her struggles as a housekeeper and single mother of two daughters as typical for a Colombian immigrant. <\/span><\/p>\n

But when Wolfson and Hialeah Campus president Joaquin G. Martinez announced her name during commencement to recognize her seven years at MDC as a symbol of the American Dream<\/span>\u2014<\/span>she cried. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re enduring the challenges of reaching your goals, you can sometimes forget the impact you can make in your life and who you can become,\u201d Castillo said. \u201cWhen [Martinez] told my story in such a short amount of time, it was confirmation that all the hard work was worth it, something I sometimes forgot when I was getting by day-by-day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Castillo was one of more than 13,000 students to receive their associate and baccalaureate degrees during five MDC commencement ceremonies on May 4. The ceremonies were held at two locations: University of Miami\u2019s Watsco Center and Kendall Campus\u2019 Theodore R. Gibson Health Center. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each ceremony featured guest speakers who delivered inspiring messages. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

American Academy of Arts and Sciences President <\/span>David Oxtoby<\/b> at the North and <\/span>Eduardo J. Padr\u00f3n <\/span>Campus ceremony; Florida Chamber of Commerce CEO <\/span>Mark Wilson<\/b> at Homestead Campus ceremony; Trujillo Group, LLC. CEO <\/span>Sol Trujillo<\/b> at the Wolfson and Hialeah Campus ceremony; Hilton Bentley Hotel Managing Partner <\/span>Julie Grimes <\/b>at the Medical Campus ceremony and The Aspen Institute CEO <\/span>Daniel Porterfield <\/b>at the Kendall and West Campus ceremony. <\/span><\/p>\n

Porterfield, in his commencement speech, connected with the student body by discussing his mother, a community college alumni that graduated in her late 30\u2019s. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLeaders like Dr. Padr\u00f3n really showed the value of doing community college education at the highest level,\u201d Porterfield said in an interview with <\/span>The Reporter<\/span><\/i>. \u201cThere\u2019s a stigma associated with some community colleges in the country because some schools have very low graduation rates, or they have high debt rates for their degree. Miami Dade College is the exact opposite of that.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s ceremony marked a pivotal time in the College\u2019s history. President Eduardo J. Padr\u00f3n, who is set to retire in August after serving 25 years as president<\/span><\/a>, walked his final precession during the Kendall and West Campus ceremony. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During each ceremony, guest speakers paid tribute to Padr\u00f3n\u2019s legacy. Roaring applause from the audience accompanied the guests\u2019 kind words. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe most exciting thing for me is to stand on the same stage with your president for his final commencement,\u201d Porterfield said in his speech. \u201c[He] is regarded in my field as, well, the Beyonc\u00e9<\/span> of higher education. The \u2018Beyonc\u00e9\u2019 because he\u2019s just the best. You don\u2019t have to say anything about why, you just say Beyonc\u00e9 and you know it\u2019s the best.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Bryan Montes, an Honors College student at Wolfson Campus studying economics, felt the imminent separation from MDC as not only bittersweet, but an opportunity to grow beyond his accomplishments. <\/span><\/p>\n

Surrounded by friends and classmates he met in The Honors College, Montes was one of eight students during commencement, one from each campus, to receive the Board of Trustees Scholarship, a $5,000 prize. He served as the vice-president of the Financial Literacy Club and, in 2018, developed <\/span>Bracelets For Commitment<\/span><\/i>, a non-profit initiative dedicated to inspiring individuals to become changemakers. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt good, you know, they called my name and I felt there was a thunderous roar,\u201d Montes said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t stop smiling, when I got back. I received more support, and even throughout the night people were congratulating me and it feels bittersweet knowing you\u2019re not going to see a lot of people for a long time, but it also feels good knowing the connections we made were honest and fruitful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Steffany Soto, getting a college degree was a personal and political accomplishment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Soto, 32, is a Chilean Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival student studying nursing at Medical Campus. President Donald Trump\u2019s cancellation of the student and work visa program in 2017 forced Soto to question the state of her education. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The College, to alleviate the financial distress many DACA students face, offers in-state tuition to DREAMers via an out-of-state tuition waiver.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe school has always supported me as a DREAMer,\u201d Soto said. \u201cThey always helped me with my tuition, to adjust it every semester, and they\u2019re always very inclusive to us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Martin Macho, a dual enrollment student at Hialeah Campus, received his associate\u2019s degree a month before receiving a high school diploma from Mater Academy in Hialeah. He began attending MDC as a sophomore. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exhilarating month,\u201d Macho said. \u201cIt felt really rewarding because I worked a lot to get onto that stage, so it was definitely a really good payoff.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Macho will study mechanical engineering at Florida International University this fall. To celebrate, he sported a dark blue tassel topper printed with the inscription<\/span>\u2014<\/span>FIU Bound<\/span><\/i>\u2014<\/span><\/i>on his graduation cap alongside a panther, their mascot. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an interesting experience but a rewarding one to get that college experience during high school,\u201d Macho said. \u201cIt paid off to get my associates degree from MDC.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Staff writers Alina Halley, Alexa Hernandez and Vanessa Gimenez contributed to this report.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ruth Castillo sat in the empty arena at the University of Miami\u2019s Watsco Center an hour before her commencement ceremony, sporting a soft smile\u2014patiently waiting to receive her college degree. Castillo, 58, saw her struggles as a housekeeper and single mother of two daughters as typical for a Colombian immigrant. But when Wolfson and Hialeah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":523,"featured_media":16205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[314,681,1639],"class_list":{"0":"post-16204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-president-eduardo-padron","9":"tag-graduation","10":"tag-commencement"},"yoast_head":"\nMore Than 13,000 Graduates Send Off The \u2018Beyonc\u00e9\u2019 Of MDC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thousands of Miami Dade College students walked across the stage at five commencement ceremonies on May 4. Many paid tribute to President Eduardo J. 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Others took selfies, waved at friends and used their cell phones to communicate with family members. <br \/> CHRISTIAN ORTEGA\/THE REPORTER","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/523"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}