Akeem Mayers dreams of creating his own comic book, someday. For now, he is content receiving multiple recognitions for his work as illustrator for The Falcon Times, the award-winning student newspaper at Miami Dade College's North Campus.

Mayers recently won three first place awards at the Florida Community College Press Association's annual convention and awards ceremony.

A native of Trinidad, Mayers beat all community college students in Florida for best illustration, editorial cartoon and comic strip. The 20-year-old was also awarded special recognition with an Inner Circle Award for winning three awards.

MDC's three student newspapers -- The Falcon Times, the Catalyst and the Metropolis -- won 18 awards at the FCCPA Convention held in Ocala.

``I'm honored to know that my work got quite a bit of recognition, and it's all thanks to The Falcon Times,'' Mayers said. ``I joined the newspaper to contribute my work, collaborate on ideas with the staff and to compete with whomever I consider competition. I'm nowhere near as good as I intend to be, but winning these awards further motivates me to set the bar higher so I can reach my potential. It's a good feeling and that motivation will burn inside of me for a long time.''

The Metropolis, the student newspaper at MDC's Wolfson Campus won first place for design (Pedro Alvarez) and best sport column (Ignacio Rodriguez) and the Catalyst, the student newspaper at MDC's Kendall Campus, won for best news photo with a powerful snap shot of President Barack Obama by Russell Quinoa. The submissions were from the 2008-09 school year and judged in 18 categories.

Here are the winners:

• First place: Pedro Alvarez, Best Design, Metropolis, Akeem Mayers, Best Illustration, Falcon Times; Akeem Mayers, Best Comic Strip, Falcon Times; Akeem Mayers, Best Editorial Cartoon, Falcon Times; Russell Quinoa, Best News Photo, Catalyst; Ignacio Rodriguez, Best Sports Column, Metropolis.

• Second place: Melody Aleman, Comic Strip, Catalyst; Katherine Concepcion, In-Depth Reporting, Catalyst; Jennifer Bridgette Fumero, General Column, Catalyst; Laura C. Morel, Feature Writing, Falcon Times; Savanna Stiff and Yamel Lora, News Story, Metropolis; Erick Torres, Sports Column, Catalyst; T.K. Xynn, Feature Photo, Metropolis.

• Third place: Pedro Alvarez, Illustration, Metropolis; Anahi Cortada, Design, Falcon Times; Fedelin Fanfan, Advertising Design, Falcon Times; Daniel A. Masip, Humor Writing, Falcon Times; Julian Pinheiro, Feature Story, Catalyst.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

South Florida Workforce Executive Director Rick Beasley presented a check for nearly $1 million at a recent MDC board of trustees meeting to enhance nursing education and college opportunities. The funds will benefit the College's newly-established Scholar Workforce Accelerated Training (SWAT) nursing program and the existing, award-winning Take Stock in Children of Miami-Dade program.

The new SWAT nursing program will provide tuition, books, uniforms, and other related materials for 40 students entering MDC's School of Nursing in spring 2010. In addition, the students will have guaranteed employment at the University of Miami Hospital upon completion of their course work.

``We want to really expand this project,'' Beasley said. ``We want to continue semester after semester to help address the nursing shortage.''

South Florida Workforce helps individuals to access training and find employment, especially those that are disadvantaged and low-income. To that end, students interested in the SWAT program must meet certain economic criteria in order to qualify.

Take Stock in Children will once again receive financial support to continue providing scholarships, mentors and hope to Florida's underprivileged youth. In April, the South Florida Workforce Board awarded the program $300,000, also at an MDC board of trustees meeting.

A partnership between MDC and Miami-Dade Public Schools, Take Stock in Children offers a comprehensive plan of success for selected students who sign a contract to stay in school, maintain good grades, remain drug and crime free, and meet once a week with a mentor. In turn, the students are awarded four year tuition scholarship to college.

This column is compiled by the media relations staff of Miami Dade College.

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