Three MDC Students Win $7,500 Hites Transfer Scholarship
Miami Dade College students Nicole Liethof, Isabel Paz and Chabeli Quincoces have been awarded the Hites Transfer Scholarship.
The $7,500 prize is awarded to Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society members for their academic performance, leadership and civic engagement.
Twenty-two students nationwide were selected in March from a pool of more than 2,800 applicants.
Nicole Liethof
Liethof is a biology major in the Honors College at Eduardo J. Padrón Campus.
In 2020, the 19-year-old immigrated from Spain and faced some initial difficulties.
“Being an immigrant, it was hard to know the opportunities [available] here, especially when finishing high school and transferring to college,” Liethof said. “[MDC has] opened a lot of doors for me, [and] now I know I can accomplish many things.”
Liethof has been active in PTK events, including volunteering at nursing homes, organizing food drives for low-income families and participating at the 2024 Miami Marathon.
She is also the vice president of community involvement at the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honors Society and a member of Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda.
Liethof plans to transfer to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Emory University in Atlanta or the University of Pennsylvania. She aspires to work in biomedical research, focusing on Alzheimer’s disease.
“I want to be able to create less invasive treatments in the future for patients,” Liethof said.
Isabel Paz
Paz is a pre-nursing student in the Honors College at Kendall Campus.
As a 13-year-old, she spent weeks in the hospital after being diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia, a disorder that produces rapid heart rhythms. That experience motivated Paz to pursue a career in nursing.
The sophomore serves as vice president of community service at PTK’s Omicron Tau chapter, organizing events like beach cleanups and representing the chapter at symposiums.
Since the fall of 2023, Paz has also worked as an illustrator and photographer for The Reporter.
In addition, she is vice president of Health Occupations Students of American, treasurer of N.U.R.S.E., the pre-nursing club at Kendall Campus, and program coordinator for Xplora, a club that teaches STEM lessons virtually to children in Peru.
The 19-year-old is also founder of StoryBytes, a student podcast platform at Kendall Campus. In March, she was selected as a finalist for the National Public Radio College Podcast Challenge for her entry: When Faced with the Barrel of a Gun.
Paz hopes to transfer to the University of Pennsylvania and aspires to be a travel nurse.
“I’m so happy about [winning the scholarship], because it could cover the majority of the dorm [costs] wherever I’m staying, which is such a huge weight off of my shoulders,” Paz said.
Chabeli Quincoces
Quincoces, who immigrated from Cuba in 2020, is a sophomore studying biology in the Honors College at Padrón Campus.
The 19-year-old serves as the treasurer of PTK’s Iota Chapter. She also created volunteering opportunities for students and led an Honors in Action project to raise awareness about neurodiversity.
Last summer, Quincoces was a part of an internship program at the University of Miami that allowed her to do research on the effectiveness of cell culture systems for neural stem cells.
“It was an amazing opportunity,” Quincoces said. “It gave me the idea that I really like research.”
She hopes to transfer to the University of Miami or John Hopkins University in Maryland to pursue a career as a surgeon.
“All that I did and that I’m doing, and what I want to pursue in the future is just helping people [and] my community,” Quincoces said.
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