Eduardo Padron, a Cuban immigrant, faced significant challenges adjusting to life in the U.S. and overcoming language barriers in public schools. Despite discouragement from a high school counselor, he pursued higher education, ultimately earning a doctorate and returning to Miami Dade College as president. Under his leadership, the college grew to become one of the largest in the nation, exemplifying resilience and the importance of following one's passions.

1. Eduardo
Padron

2. 15-year-old Eduardo and
his 12-year-old brother
left Cuba with just a
suitcase full of clothes,
landing in a country where
they knew almost nothing.

3. Padron describes his first
experiences in U.S. public
schools with one word:
"terrifying." "I got to the
school and I didn't
understand a word and
everything was alien to me,"

4. "The teacher and students
are talking to you and you
don't know what they're
saying.
Not being able to
communicate, not being able
to understand the homework
assignment.

5. He worked three jobs,
delivering the newspaper,
doing inventory at a
department store and
separating clothing at a dry
cleaners.

6. ...

7. Eduardo sat in his high
school counselor's office,
ready to discuss his future
and fulfill the promise he
had made his mother before
leaving Cuba.

8. But the counselor told
Padron he wasn't college
material.
...
You should apply to a trade
school, she said.

9. "When she said that, the
voice of my mother in the
back of my head was
telling me, 'No, you're
going to college and you
can do much better,'

10. Rejecting the counselor's
advice, he applied to
many schools. He was
accepted at just one

11. Padron enrolled in Miami Dade
Community College, which was
just one campus and about
5,000 students, mostly from
poor and working-class
families who couldn't afford
larger private and state
universities.

12. Padron would wake up at
around 4:30 a.m. each
morning and take three
buses or carpool with
students who each pitched
in a quarter for gas and
squeezed into a car

13. He'd take early classes and
then head back to work.
... the stress of going to
school, working and caring
for his younger brother took
a toll

14. This, Padron says, "was the
place where I gained self
confidence. Where I truly felt I
belonged."
He found a group of supportive
students who had similar stories
and concerns, and dedicated
professors.

15. His academic career
flourished, culminating with
a doctorate from the
University of Florida in
1970.

16. Padron returned to Miami
Dade Community College in
1995 as ...

17. President!

18. Miami Dade College is now
one of the nation's largest
institutions of higher
education, with more than
170,000 students and eight
campuses

19. Time magazine
named him one of
the 10 best
college presidents
in the United
States - the only
community college
leader on the list.

20. Takeaways!
Never let anyone tell you
"you can't" - make it your
mission to prove them
wrong.
Follow your own path.
Follow your passion!
Give back.