Belen Jesuit Preparatory School is proud to announce that U.S. Senator Marco Rubio will be the commencement speaker at the James L. Knight Center on Thursday, June 1 at 7:00 p.m.
“We are deeply honored that Senator Rubio accepted our invitation to be part of this important milestone in the life of these young men,” said Jesuit Father Guillermo M. García-Tuñón, Ed.D. ‘87, Belen Jesuit’s President of the school. “As a Cuban American who has accomplished great things in the country that welcomed his parents years ago he has a great insight into the past and present of Belen Jesuit. I am sure he will leave a profound and lasting message to the 179 students that make up the Class of 2017 and to the whole Belen community.”
“I look forward to addressing the Belen Jesuit community at their 2017 commencement ceremony,” said Senator Rubio. “When Belen was confiscated and expelled from Cuba in 1961, the school showed its resilience when it reopened in Miami that very same year. Since then, Belen Jesuit has grown immensely, and has taught students according to the Ignatian tradition of excellence. I am confident this year’s graduates will go on to be leaders in their respective fields of study, and continue to defend their faith and promote justice as Belen Jesuit has taught them to do.”
The James L. Knight Center is located at 400 SE Second Ave in Miami, 33131.
“We are ecstatic that Senator Rubio will be our commencement speaker,” said Jose E. Roca ’84, principal. “He has been an example to all Hispanics of the American Dream. The son of immigrants who has persevered through hard work to serve his community in Capitol Hill.”
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio was elected to the United States Senate in 2010, and set one objective for himself while in office: to help bring the American Dream back into reach for those who feel it is slipping away. That’s the goal Senator Rubio strives toward with his every effort, and it is the measure he uses to keep score.
Senator Rubio is passionate about the American Dream because he has lived it himself. His parents came to America from Cuba in 1956 and earned their way to the middle class working humble jobs. By their loving and powerful example, he learned the importance of work and family, and developed the belief that all things are possible in America.
Prior to being sworn into the Senate in 2010, Senator Rubio served as a City Commissioner for West Miami before serving in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008.
Senator Rubio has spent most of his life in West Miami, and lives there today with his wife Jeanette and their four children.
The Jesuits founded Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in 1854 in Havana, Cuba. In 1961, when Belen and all private schools were confiscated by the new political regime, the school was re-established in Miami that same year and has grown over the last five decades. Currently the enrollment is nearly 1,500 male students in grades 6 to 12 and over six thousand alumni. Since 2006, Belen Jesuit has been named one of the Top 50 U.S. Catholic High Schools by the National Catholic High School Honor Roll. The Jesuits and the faculty give their lives to the school so that young men can receive a strong Catholic formation in the tradition of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
