MDC students, advisors and chapters were also recognized at Phi Theta Kappa’s Florida regional competition
Miami, March 23, 2021 – Fifteen Miami Dade College (MDC) students representing five MDC campuses were named to the 2021 All-Florida Academic Team in recognition of their outstanding academic achievement, leadership, and service to the community in 2020. Winners will be recognized at a virtual awards ceremony on April 23.
The MDC students chosen are part of a group 137 from all over Florida. The awardees were nominated by their respective colleges.
The MDC 2021 All-Florida Academic Team winners are:
Eduardo J. Padrón Campus
Helen Menéndez
Elías Marcet
Danilo Navarro Espinosa
Hialeah Campus
Kenrik Chirinos
Heily Rivas
Ada Mojica
Dagoberto Romero
Homestead Campus
Fabiana Montiel
Jada Watkins
North Campus
Mohamad Auckbaraullee
Shena Haughton
Abigail Losada
Nicholas Pérez
West Campus
Thomas Bezombe
Natalia Moreno
Accolades received at PTK’s Florida regional competition include:
- Hialeah Campus’ Beta Pi Theta Chapter placed #2 on the list of best chapters out of 87 in the region and was recognized in the College Project as one of the top three in the Florida region.
- North Campus’ Mu Epsilon Chapter received the Distinguished Honors in Action Award.
- Padrón Campus PTK advisor and Technology professor, Dr. Diego Tibaquirá, was recognized for Continued Excellence in Advising. In 2020, Prof. Tibaquirá was named a Phi Theta Kappa Faculty Scholar and Distinguished Advisor.
- Wendy Rodriguez (Hialeah Campus) – First Place, Honor Study Topic – Speech Essay Competition.
- Rolaindjy Desir (Wolfson Campus) – Distinguished Poetry Award for “Hope Keeps Me Alive.”
- Heily Rivas (Hialeah Campus) – Distinguished Music Award for “Sunset.”
- Marina Netzlaff (Medical Campus) – Distinguished Art Award for “The World in My Eyes.”
- Susana Piedrahita (Eduardo J. Padrón Campus) – Distinguished Member Awards.
Additional awards:
- Helen Menéndez and Danilo Navarro Espinosa (Eduardo J. Padrón Campus) – Coca-Cola’s 2021 Academic Team Gold Scholars.
- Elías Marcet (Eduardo J. Padrón Campus) – New Century Workforce Scholar, top scoring student in Florida.
- Hialeah Campus’ Beta Pi Theta Chapter was again honored at the Phi Theta Kappa International Conference where it was named a top 100 chapter (out of 1300 chapters in 10 nations world-wide) and an International Distinguished College Project Award winner for the Scholarship Workshop Series that took place in the summer and fall of 2020.
- Hialeah Campus’ lead advisor Dr. Kelly Kennedy-Everett received the prestigious Marshall Advisor Award for her project Our National Parks: Creating Super Courses with Lessons in Leadership which includes a $5,000 stipend for technology and other expenses to bring this project to life.
Phi Theta Kappa is the premier honor society recognizing the academic achievement of students at associate degree-granting colleges and helping them to grow as scholars and leaders. The Society is made up of more than 3.5 million members and nearly 1,300 chapters in 11 nations, with approximately 240,000 active members in the nation’s colleges. Learn more at www.ptk.org.