美高梅 Stories

Patience and Consistency Will Win the Race, Not Speed

 

——萨德·蒂尔

Born and raised in Haiti, 莉斯 Angela Tillias made her way to 美高梅 in Spring 2022, in hopes of starting the 比赛 to fulfilling a lifelong goal of attending college.

莉斯 said since she was a little girl, she had high hopes of graduating high school at the age of 16 and to start at a four-year university in America immediately afterward.

“I joked about attending Ivy League schools, when I had yet to learn where they were located and what I wanted to study,” said 莉斯.

With her goal in mind, 莉斯 did in fact graduate high school in Haiti at the age of 16. However, 莉斯 said she did not attend her high school graduation because she was still dealing with the death of her grandmother – and because conditions in Haiti were unsafe at the time.

“I was defeated and after graduating high school, stayed home for nearly six months because of immigration issues,” said 莉斯.

莉斯 said the delay weighed heavily on her because she always envisioned herself attending 大学很快.

To create light from a difficult situation, 莉斯 said she used the six months as a time to heal from her grandmother’s death, figure out what she wanted to study and strategize her next move.

“I don’t regret not starting college immediately,” said 莉斯. “That is how it needed 是.”

莉斯 eventually made her to way Orlando, Fla., because she had family nearby and heard about 美高梅 through her cousin, who is a Valencia grad.

莉斯 decided to enroll, and her grit immediately became apparent. After only one year at Valencia, 莉斯 joined many campus organizations, including Model United Nations, 美高梅 Seneff Honors College and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

“I don’t know what I would have been able to do without my passage to Valencia,” said 莉斯.

As a full-time online student, 莉斯 had to learn how to juggle her coursework and time management, a skill she said she did not possess before attending Valencia.

Through her involvement with campus activities and clubs, 莉斯 earned the Global Citizen distinction as part of the Global Distinction program at 美高梅. 我们的目标 of Global Distinction is to prepare students to live and work in an interdependent and multicultural world while having the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of a competent global citizen of the 21st century.

“Being born and raised in Haiti, I grew to love politics,” said 莉斯. “So, this distinction means so much to me because it helped spark my internal passion for international 事务.”

莉斯 said she always thought she wanted 是come an engineer, but during her time at Valencia, she found herself being proud 是 Haitian and decided to study international 事务.

“Valencia has profoundly changed my life in many ways,” said 莉斯. “I am ready 是come a global citizen and give as much of myself to the global community.”

莉斯 graduated from Valencia in May 2023 with her associate degree and has applied to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Florida International University in hopes of starting in the fall.

“Two years ago, I thought life was a 比赛 that required super speed,” said 莉斯. “然而, I have learned the importance of patience and consistency during my time at Valencia. At 18 years old, I know now that those qualities, rather than speed – will win the 比赛.