NEWS AND EVENTS

2011

Latino Leadership at Harvard

Six (6) honors students were selected to represent Miami Dade College at the Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI) Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government this summer. As part of the program, students met national leaders such as David Gergen, Marshall Ganz, Loren Gary, Dario E. Collado, Andy Zelleki, and Robert Bies. The program was designed to enhance the leadership capacity and understanding of a cadre of students committed to serving the Latino community; help participants form a strong and durable bond among themselves and with other leaders; and inspire participants to view their own possibilities for leadership and professional achievement as limitless.

During the workshop, student participants were engaged in classroom sessions on a range of leadership development topics, including self-awareness and core competencies such as public speaking, decision making and negotiation. In addition, the young leaders had an opportunity to network and build a community among themselves, and to interact with a range of leaders from the nonprofit, business, and government sectors. LLI participants are also responsible for creating personal leadership action plans and team based community service projects designed to enrich their local communities and help them utilize their new leadership skill sets.

The Miami Dade College's cohort will be working on an initiative to help high school students enroll into college and succeed while they are there. The students are in the process of fine-tuning the details of this community project, which they plan to launch in the fall of 2011. Participants stated that this was a life changing event. Anabetsy Rivero, was most delighted to meet Dr. Robert Sackstein who is an immunologist/biochemist/molecular biologist with clinical expertise in internal medicine/hematology/immunology and, in particular, in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). She hopes to work in his lab as an intern summer 2011.

Group photo: Anabetsy Rivero, Jessenia Guerra, Natalie Sanchez (LLI Mentor and Harvard graduate), Vanessa Chalmers, Jessica Giraldo Laura Barrera, Luis Sanchez.

Miami Dade College students visit Costa Rica

24 honors students were funded to visit Costa Rica as part of Miami Dade College's mission to foster Earth Literacy in the course objectives of each discipline throughout the College as well as in the South Florida community and the extended Earth community beyond.

Earth Literacy includes an understanding of cosmology and ecological principles as the basis for sustainable living. The cosmological context is the story of the Universe, as contemporary science describes the developmental process out of which Earth and all life emerge. Utilizing one of the University of Georgia, Costa Rica's (UGA) outdoor classrooms, the group held daily pre-breakfast, afternoon and evening sessions for instructional lessons. Students also participated in fieldtrips for experiential learning including but not limited to hikes, visits to parks and reserves, service-learning projects, and outdoor observations and writing exercises.

Miami Dade College Professors Christopher Migliaccio and Brad Stocker were the professors of the 3 credit course who travelled with the group to Costa Rica. The class was transported to a local sustainable coffee farm, cooperative and processing facility; the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, canopy trails of the Santa Elena Cloud Forest, and Poas Volcano National Park for additional field experiences and / or meetings with local people. Student participants claim that this was a very rewarding experience with life-long impact.

Great news! - 1st place at State Math Olympics

On Saturday, April 9, 2 honors students participated in the State of Florida’s Mathematics Olympics at the University of North Florida. Luis Larco won 1st place in the individual competition, and my team, the MDC Wolfson Team, obtained 2nd place in the team competition.

Group photo from left to right: Dr. Alvio Dominguez (Professor and Coach), Erico Oyarzun (HC Wolfson), Samy Wu (HC InterAmerican), Ernesto Mogena (Wolfson), Luis Larco (HC Wolfson), and Dr. Scott Hochwald (Chair of UNF Mathematics Department).

2011 Florida Collegiate Honors College (FCHC) logo competition. February 17-20, 2011

Student, Gian Lombardi, from The Honors College of Miami Dade College, wins the 2011 Florida Collegiate Honors College (FCHC) logo competition. Gian won a scholarship as well as recognition at the February 17 -20, 2011 FCHC conference held in Jacksonville, FL. Congratulations Gian!

Open House, Saturday January 22, 2011 at Wolfson Campus

Who should Attend?
Parents of High School Seniors
High School seniors who meet at least one of the folowing criteria:
- 3.7 GPA ( weighted or unweighted) with assessment scores (SAT, ACT, or CPT) that place you at college level reading, writing, and math ot
- A minimum combined SAT score of 1200 ( Verbal/Critical Reasoning and Math) of
- A composite ACT score of 26

Visit the Honors College website at: http://www.mdc.edu/honorscollege/ and bring a completed application to the Open House to be eligible for the February 1st early consideration deadline.
To view the Flyer, please click here.

To RSVP please contact the Honors college at ( 305) 237-7077 by January 18, 2011

Honors students arrive in Washington D.C. January 9, 2011

Annually The Honors College of Miami Dade College sends 30 students including Student Government representatives from the eight campuses to attend the 2011 Seminar on Politics and the Media sponsored by The Washington Center in Washington, DC. This year's seminar will be held from January 9-15, 2011.

Inside Washington '11 is designed to give students the opportunity to gain and apply their academic knowledge in a participatory learning setting. This opportunity will allow them participate in a combination of lectures, site visits, tours and special events. This Academic seminar is one of the best ways for students to witness the impact of the political process on public policy and the critical role of the media in the political process. Although The Honors College students will not receive credit, the seminar is taught as a course, with an equivalent to 1-2 credits.

2009 - 2010

Dual Language Program’s Dynamic Duo Catapult to Top

Claudia Ocampo and Camila Caunedo are two of the recent success stories of the Honors College Dual Language program, an innovative initiative offered only at MDC’s InterAmerican Campus.

The program, which accepts only 75 students per year, challenges those chosen to be fully fluent in English and Spanish and able to conduct business in either language. This ability gives students advantages in today’s global marketplace. Ocampo and Caunedo are now studying at Johns Hopkins University, the famed research institution based in Baltimore.

For more information visit:
http://www.mdc.edu/main/collegeforum/archive/vol14-05/makingtheirmark/dual_language_programs_dynamic_duo_catap.asp

2010 I Have a Dream Gala Fundraiser

Stephanie Trump, “I have a Dream” Foundation Coordinator invited six Honors College female students to participate in a very special leadership project in connection with the National “I Have a Dream” Foundation. As part of their project they worked with Stephanie Trump on a $5,000.00 a plate dinner to raise several million dollars for the foundation. The event was held at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach November 9, 2010. Students were treated with the opportunity to meet special people and celebrities like Ms. World.

Group Picture_ from the left - Quincy O' Bryan, Marcella Bermudez, Kathleen Diaz, Stephanie Trump, Linsey Stitt, Shirley Franco, Amanda, Genesis.

For more information on the events visit http://www.ihaveadreamfoundationmiami.com/news.html

"Bridges to the Baccalaureate” students win best poster presentation in the neuroscience category

Honors students participating in the “Bridges to the Baccalaureate” program, a collaborative research program between University of Miami and Miami Dade College, have struck gold once more.  Eleven sophomores were selected to present posters of their research at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) in Charlotte, NC. Out of the 160 neuroscience poster presentations, Madelen Diaz and Ana Bermudez, Sophomores in The Honors College won awards for best poster presentation in the neuroscience category. They were two of the 11 awardees of the day. Congratulations Madelen Diaz and Ana Bermudez.

Group Picture_ from the left Melissa Valle, Hira Shabbir, Claudia Alonso, Patricia deLeon, Tiffany Planton, Dr. Michael Gaines, Ana Bermudez, Brian Gutierrez, Madelen Diaz, Jonathan Diaz, Rachel Earle, Alejandra Lamas (kneeling), and Henry Turcios (kneeling).

For more on the conference visit: http://www.abrcms.org/page01a.html

Miami Dade College Honors College Student Wins Top Service Award in the State

For the third consecutive year, a Miami Dade College (MDC) student has won Florida Campus Compact’s top service award. In fact, Stephanie Del Pino, from MDC’s Kendall Campus Honors College, is the only student to receive a 2009 Excellence in Service Award in the Community/State College category and who will also receive the President’s Volunteer Service Award this year.

Together with Wolfson Campus Honors College student, Amanda Balareza, Del Pino was the driving force behind the first-ever All-Nighter for Haiti, a college-wide initiative that raised more than $23,000 last year to build tilapia farms and plant fruit trees in Haiti. Del Pino dedicated more than 900 hours toward directing and coordinating the first-ever fundraiser of its kind.

For more information please visit: http://www.mdc.edu/main/news/articles/

Bridges to the Future Program

On November 5, 2009 Miami Dade College students in the Bridges to the Future Program attended The Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority students designed to encourage underrepresented minority students to pursue advanced training in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. This conference attracts approximately 2,800 individuals, including 1,500 undergraduate students, 230 graduate students and postdoctoral scientists and 850 faculty and administrators. Students come from over 285 U.S. colleges and universities, some of which include Yale, Princeton, and Cornell. During the three-day conference, students participated in poster presentations, which were judged and those receiving the highest scores in each scientific discipline were given awards. Three Miami Dade students received awards:

Ricardo D. Solorzano In the Neuroscience Division
Betty Albo Obeso- In the Cell Biology Division
Sara Rodriguez- In the Microbiological Division

All this was made possible due to the hard work and dedication of the Bridges to the Future program director, Dr. Michael A. Gaines and the MDC Bridges coordination team.

The Honors College Dual Language Students and United WAG at Edison Park Elementary School

Fifteen Miami Dade College Honors College Dual Language students, under the guidance of Professor Yvette Lujan, identified three lessons to be presented to elementary school students. They worked with staff from United WAG to learn the skills of delivery and interaction they needed to work with elementary students.

To view the full press release, please click here.
Click here for slideshow

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