The long wait to graduate finally arrived for thousands of Miami Dade College students this past April, but for two\u2014Stephanie and Lillian Rivera\u2014 it was a double celebration.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Rivera, 20, a mass communications and journalism major, walked alongside her mother, Lillian Rivera, an office administration major, during graduation on April 29 at the James L. Knight Center.<\/p>\n
Lillian started attending Kendall Campus in fall 2009 along with her daughter Stephanie, who had originally decided to enroll at West Campus. The duo finished their studies at North Campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the beginning I was kind of embarrassed; who wants to go to college with their mom?\u201d Stephanie said. \u201cEveryone knows when it comes to college life, you\u2019re independent.\u201d<\/p>\n
This pair took their class time seriously; Lillian earned a 3.6 grade point average and Stephanie a 3.86 GPA.<\/p>\n
How the mother and daughter ended up at MDC together is a bit ironic.<\/p>\n
One afternoon in 2009, as Stephanie arrived home from school during her senior year at Doral Charter High School, she found her mother Lillian waiting for her, which was very unusual.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was preparing my plans to go to the University of South Florida, Florida International University and MDC, filling out applications and sending them out, when I got the shocking news about my mother,\u201d Stephanie said.<\/p>\n
Her mother had been laid off from her job at Interval International, where she spent 11 years working as an administrative coordinator for the treasurer in the finance department.<\/p>\n
Lillian\u2019s department closed down due to budget constraints.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very hard, 84 people were laid off. My boss was crying when he had to break the news,\u201d Lillian said. \u201cI just prayed and mediated on my way home. I\u2019ve never had that happen after so many years of working.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephanie was kept in the dark about the news by both of her parents because they did not want the news to affect her schoolwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t find out until later,\u201d Stephanie said. \u201cIt meant no money and a lot of staying at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The layoff landed her mother in the unemployment line to look for a new job. The family was forced to \u00a0depend on one income.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to place priorities on the more important things; basically without any notice an entire salary was lost,\u201d Lillian said. \u201cAs a family we stuck together, even though some of the family events that were taking place at that time weren\u2019t as memorable as I wanted them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Lillian moved forward. She joined a program called the Workforce Investment Act, which gave her a chance to pursue an education and to improve her resume for new employment opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been in school for over 20 years,\u201d Lillian said. \u201cI got involved in everything that could help me learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephanie said the situation gave her an opportunity to spend more time with her mom at school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked spending time with her between classes and having lunch together,\u201d Stephanie said. \u201cWhat I didn\u2019t like was having to wait for her to get out of her computer labs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lillian is happy how things turned out. Stephanie is headed to Florida International University to pursue her bachelor\u2019s degree and Lillian is currently working at Memorial Hospital in Miramar.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very proud of my daughter, not letting things keep her down,\u201d Lillian said. \u201cThis is history\u2014mother and daughter walking down the aisle together into graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The long wait to graduate finally arrived for thousands of Miami Dade College students this past April, but for two\u2014Stephanie and Lillian Rivera\u2014 it was a double celebration. Stephanie Rivera, 20, a mass communications and journalism major, walked alongside her mother, Lillian Rivera, an office administration major, during graduation on April 29 at the James […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"\n