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Eduardo Padron graduated from Miami’s community college. Today he is the president of Miami Dade College and says he is deeply passionate about this place and his life has been transformed because of this institution. Padron is one of the vociferous supporters of America’s community colleges.

Echoing President Obama’s sentiments, Padron feels that by the year 2020, US should be the world leader in college degrees. This he says is possible by ensuring that at least 5 million Americans graduate from community colleges. As a part of the higher education legislation passed in conjunction with the health care reform bill, an added $2 billion was sanctioned by the Congress for providing job training at the colleges.

Padron has been instrumental in transforming his school into the biggest college in America. As compared to any other public institution, this college graduates more number of Hispanic and Black students. Padron and his Miami Dade College will definitely be an inspiration for officials and educators involved in the higher education reconfiguration process.

According to the American Council on Education’s President Molly Corbett, this is a wonderful achievement by Eduardo that clearly indicates that it is possible for open access as well as quality to co-exist in the American system of higher education. The past year saw Padron regularly in touch with top officials at the White House working out higher education policy recommendations with them.

When he departed from his middle class home from Cuba with his younger brother and a host of other Cuban children, Padron was terrified. His first few days at the school were horrifying as he could not understand the language and lacked severely in confidence. Everything was alien to the small boy. However, he persevered, working hard part time to support his studies and taking care of his younger brother to make it to college.

When he enrolled in Dade College in Miami, there were only about 5000 students studying in a single campus. Most of the students there were from working class families that were poor enough not to be able to afford the state and private universities.

His college life was all about walking up very early in the morning and taking at least three buses to go to college. On luckier days he used to take car pools and pay for a part of the gas. After completing his early classes, he used to rush back to work.

In spite of this highly stressful lifestyle, Padron was a cheerful student and a favourite among his friends. According to the student leader Frank Cobo, Padron used to always be dressed in a formal manner and was jovial, yet studious.

According to Padron, he gained most of his self confidence here and this was where he belonged and made his career and life. He spent his life bringing up this college that gave him everything and today is highly applauded for his efforts. He is also a significant contributor to the government’s higher education policies.