Miami Dade College (MDC) student Patricia Martin is the winner of this year’s Francisco Foundation Scholarship worth $2,500. She was honored during a recent awards ceremony at MDC’s Wolfson Campus. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Javier Souto and other members of the foundation board attended.
Born in Cuba, Martin is a first-year nursing student at MDC. She graduated cum laude from Young Women’s Preparatory School with 40 college credits completed. Since 2013, she has volunteered at Bethel Missionary Temple and was a summer camp volunteer at Margery Stoneman Douglas Elementary.
Inspired by her family’s struggle against the Castro regime, her dream is to become an anesthesiologist and work as a missionary in countries such as Cuba to help those not supported by their governments.
The Francisco Foundation Scholarship was created in honor of Rogelio “Francisco” Gonzalez Corzo, who was executed by Fidel Castro’s regime in 1961 when he was only 28 years old for attempts to subvert the dictatorship. He was the head of the underground anti-Castro resistance effort called Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria (Movement to Recover the Revolution).
Francisco Foundation scholarship winners are selected on the basis of demonstrated leadership, community service, academic excellence and a love of democracy and freedom. The scholarships are awarded to first-year students only. Applicants are required to submit a typed, double-spaced, 1,100-word essay explaining one of the two following themes: what freedom and democracy mean to them, or what sort of sacrifices should be made to ensure the safeguarding of freedom and democracy. The essays can be written in English, Spanish or Creole.
Along with the essay, applicants must include their most recent transcript, a current resume, and two letters of recommendation attesting to academic performance, leadership and character.
For more information about this and other scholarship opportunities at MDC, visit www.mdc.edu/scholarships.
