Mirko Fernandez, a Spanish Major and Sociology minor, is an example of leadership for McDaniel Students.
During his time at McDaniel, Mirko worked as a Language Laboratory Assistant, Spanish Tutor, and Football Filmer. He was also part of many clubs and organizations at McDaniel, including the Hispanic Latino Alliance as former treasurer and current president, Alpha Phi Omega as vice-president, Phi Alpha Delta, Frisbee Club, and Baseball club.
Upon graduation, Mirko will work as a paralegal at the Law Offices of Roberto Allen. He also plans to attend law school after a year or so, once he has prepared to take the law school entry test, LSAT. He also plans to get married, but decided to not disclose any further information about the matter.
When asked about his experience at McDaniel, Mirko states, “Coming to McDaniel is one of the best choices I have made in my entire life. McDaniel offered me an experience different from anything I had known before. I am thankful to McDaniel for helping me to improve my English, for having such a supportive faculty and staff, and for making sure we surround ourselves on the Hill with brilliant people.”
Mirko claims that his favorite thing about McDaniel is the school’s willingness to embrace diversity and to spread it whilst its community.
In regards of mentorship, Mirko thanks Dr. McNichols, Dr. Dundes, and Dr. Deveny for their advice and assistance. “We know little about our existence but these people know more than most, and having met them has indeed prepared me for the next step: life after college” says Mirko.
Although college life might be difficult for many, Mirko went through difficult challenges. “My biggest challenge was the language barrier. I recall freshmen year was the hardest because of all the adjustments and hard work I had to put in in order to do well,” states Mirko.
“To overcome this challenge,” Mirko states, “I dove into the world of words and read plenty to expand my vocabulary. I watched TV in English with subtitles to see how words were pronounced and how they were written, I tied avoiding speaking Spanish as much as I could, which led to me going out of my comfort zone more than often, and lastly, I made an afforest to participate more in class in order to erase that fear of speaking in a foreign language in front of others.”
Mirko’s words of wisdom: Do not confine yourself to your room because you are afraid you will not fit in. Do not hang out with just one group of people, expand your network of friends. Lastly, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
