[MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh, wow.
[LAUGHS]
SPEAKER: You have three full minutes to untangle this,
and I want you to lay out the different strands.
All right.
[LAUGHS]
SPEAKER: OK.
ELIAS MARCET (VOICEOVER): Cybersecurity
is the field of information technology
that deals with compliance and the security aspect of devices.
You can think like a hacker to prevent hackers
from entering a system.
A lot of times, people use birthdays or the year
they were born as part of the passwords.
So it is very convenient if you know something about the person.
That is called social engineering.
My name is Elias Marcet, and I'm currently
doing a Bachelor's in Cybersecurity
at Miami Dade College.
[LAUGHS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I'm from Ecuador, in South America.
I came here with my mom when I was 17.
I left everything in Ecuador--
family, friends, my language.
[CHATTER]
I needed, basically, to start over.
I realized that I wanted to have more, that I
wanted to pursue an education.
So how was the presentation there?
ELIAS MARCET: My mom has five degrees.
She has two bachelor's, two master's, and a doctorate
degree.
[CHATTER]
I knew I wanted to make her proud of me
as well as follow an academic path like her.
At the beginning, I didn't know what path to take in college,
but I figured the only way that I
could figure that out was actually enrolling.
So I just took a leap of faith.
For quite a while, I tried to get into Miami Dade College,
but there were a lot of roadblocks on the way.
I was working full time, making minimum wage.
My first year in college, I took one class at a time per semester
because that's all I could afford.
So for one whole year, I only did four classes.
I was able to move up to site leader, or supervisor,
and then I was able to afford classes.
Finally, when I was 26, I was able to fully enroll.
Hello, how are you doing.
[LAUGHS]
One of the biggest things in college
is that you get to meet a lot of people.
JULIANNE GRILLO: One of my favorite values and traits
from Elias, Elias has been the best example
that I have seen in someone who has
put their mind into something they want to do and then do it.
ELIAS MARCET: Are you going to cry?
[LAUGHS] Keep going.
[LAUGHS]
[LAUGHTER]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ELIAS MARCET: How you doing, professor?
DIEGO TIBAQUIRA: Hey, how you doing?
How are classes going?
Everything's going good.
ELIAS MARCET (VOICEOVER): It took me a while
to get into the field of cybersecurity
because I figured I would go with medicine.
But when I took one of the general education
classes, a computer competency class, I met Diego Tibaquira.
Remember, I told you about the new programs?
ELIAS MARCET (VOICEOVER): He taught me a lot about computers.
ATE NSF grant afford us the opportunity of offering training
for you to pass the certifications.
Oh, that's awesome.
ELIAS MARCET (VOICEOVER): He had told me
that I did have an aptitude for computers.
I went ahead and I took one class, just to see how it was.
And I liked it, and I kept going from there.
[LAUGHS]
One of the things that I've benefited
from while I'm in Miami Dade College
is from the NSF and the ATE.
And I wanted to know more about that because I've
been benefiting from it but I have no idea what it is.
The National Science Foundation funds ATE,
the Advanced Technological Education grants,
that has been able to give us the resources
to build the programs that you and Julianne and your classmates
have been able to go through, programs
that offer opportunities for credentialing.
The point is to bring not only a new perspective but a new group
of professionals into the field that can carry us
into the next generation.
How many certifications have you gotten so far?
I have six that were funded by them.
For me, they're very valuable.
They were able to help me prove that I
knew the skills that the companies were looking for.
I was able to not only showcase them,
but I was able to talk about them during interview processes.
Elias and myself, we both finished the AWS Solutions
Architect Certification.
ELIAS MARCET (VOICEOVER): And Julianne
ended up working for Amazon, and when there was an opening,
he called me.
I was excelling in classes, so he actually
put in a word with Amazon so that I would be hired by them.
GEORGE YAGER: Once he starts something,
he wants to finish it.
He needs to finish it.
And that's one of the best qualities he has.
He believes in himself.
I am so, so proud of him.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You guys took an opportunity, and you
have stretched to the max.
This is the wall where we have all our students
that have won the highest level of scholarships.
Do you recognize this person?
Yes, of course.
That's your little boy.
My little boy.
DIEGO TIBAQUIRA (VOICEOVER): He came from uncertainty,
not knowing exactly what he wanted
to do, to number one student in the state of Florida.
He was just elected unanimously to do a speech nationally.
ELIAS MARCET (VOICEOVER): I feel like the future of cybersecurity
is very good.
I'm very proud of him, very proud.
The field is broad and there's a lot
of companies in need of it.