Posted on April 27, 2021
Adrianne Toles, Managing Editor
Another successful semester has come and gone in the blink of an eye
here at Daytona State College. The Student Life Center has been busy
preparing to congratulate our graduating class on their success during
the graduation ceremony scheduled on May 19th.
The past year and early months of 2021 have been anything but
standard, yet as a college, students and faculty have all risen above
every obstacle in pursuit of their goals.
Montanna Brumfield, a culinary management major at Daytona State, has
been eagerly preparing for graduation full of pride of her
accomplishments, ready to turn the page and begin the next chapter in
her life and career. In the fall, she aims to attend The Culinary
Institute of America in New York to get her master’s degree in baking
and pastry.
The road she’s paved has not been an easy one. Working to pay for her
college tuition and applying herself wholeheartedly to her education is
no easy task.
“I had to give myself so many pep talks,” she said, recounting “so
many times standing in the mirror like, ‘I know you’re tired, but we
have got to get up, we’ve got to go to school.’”
The struggles we find ourselves confronted with on the journey to
complete our goals are inevitable. “Really, it was just me making sure I
did not give up,” Brumfield commented.
For Montanna Jordan, graduation signifies another accomplished goal
on the way to achieving her dreams. And to the students graduating
alongside her or others still on their way to actualizing their own
goals she says, “Everyone moves at their own pace, it’s okay to take a
break if you need to. Just make sure you come back to it and enjoy the
journey.”
Like many of the students here at DSC, Kara Gustafson has not yet
completed her nursing major but is focused and working hard to achieve
her goal. She is planning to graduate in the upcoming Fall semester.
Inspired by those around her, Gustafson knew she wanted to go into
nursing, and is paving her own path along the way. Between her personal,
work and academic life she says she overcame her most difficult
obstacles by finding balance.
The most valuable lesson that her time here at Daytona State, and a
piece of advice she wants her classmates to know, is that “I can do
anything I put my mind to. I was so scared of not being smart enough,
there is nothing to be afraid of. You can do it, don’t doubt
yourself.”
Today, we congratulate and bid farewell to the graduates of the
Daytona State Falcons family as they go on to greater things like the
many alumni that have come before. And the stage has already been set
for generations of excellence that are sure to follow.
Daytona State students and alumni can also purchase a commemorative
brick to be placed at the clock tower on the Daytona State campus as a
marker of your time in DSC history. More information can be found in the
student accounts office, or by contacting suzette_cameron@daytonastate.edu.
Daytona State students and alumni can purchase a commemorative brick to
be placed at the clock tower on the Daytona campus. Photo taken by
Adrianne Toles
