Category: Beyond MLEC

Passions & Motivations

by Rhobie Toussaint, posted in Beyond MLEC

Last year, I interviewed three students on campus and asked them about their major, their passions, and what motivates them. Madison, Omar, and Kesya all have varying passions but they all have one thing in common: making lives better. 

Though it took me a while to come back to this project, I’m so happy that I did. Omar, Maddy, and Kes are three wonderful, ambitious people and I’m excited to share part of their stories with you. Below is what they have to say about their passions and motivations:

Maddy: eDucation & Support Systems

“My name is Madison. I am [now 20] years old. I am an elementary education major. I want to become a teacher. Things that motivate me when I’m at my lowest are my friends. They are some of the most, how do I say, helpful people that I have around me at this point. They push me to do the best that I can and be the best that I can for myself and the people around me. As well as my parents, you know. They’ve always wanted me to do the best that I could and have always been such a good support system in my life. [They have] inspired me to do what I’m most passionate about, which at this point I would say is education. 

Education is very important to me because I have been watching the state of education decline throughout my life and I’m seeing things happen around me where I feel like a lot of the teachers that we have at our schools are not motivated anymore and aren’t happy with their job. For many different reasons… [Education has]  always been something that I’ve been very passionate about. In terms of education, [I care about] making sure that I provide an equitable education in my classroom, as well as in my school, in the county… and making sure that our students have everything they need to be successful and as happy as possible in my classroom and in education as a whole. 

I just think that having passionate people in the classroom with the children is one of the most important things to their education. Because at the end of the day, if you’re not passionate, they’re not going to be. And they should be. It’s their education. Kids are not going to want to listen to you if you’re not going to give them a reason to listen. So I think having a motivated person in front of your students, whether they are in kindergarten or highschool, is one of the most important parts of their educational career. So that’s why I am very passionate about [education] and I think that over time, I’m going to become more and more passionate about it. 

Recently in school and stuff, I have really shown myself that this is something I want to do. And it’s more than just an idea. It’s actually something that I’m really passionate about.” 

Omar: Acting, Role Models & Family

Question: When did you realize that you want to be an actor?

“This was during my senior year in high school. I went to Miami Lakes Tech. I used to dress up as Spiderman a lot back in high school and I remember doing it for multiple pep rallies [and] multiple events like spirit week. And I remember I once [dressed up as Spiderman] for the kids there because at our high school we had a daycare. I remember dressing up for the kids. They asked me to do the favor, me and my other buddy, and [the kids] loved it. It was seeing all of them happy. So then I thought about it. I said, ‘you know, I think I’m perfect for this.’ I think I have like the right energy and all that for the entertainment field…  I love making people smile. I love making people happy. So yeah, that’s what made me want to be on the big screen. ” 

Question: Who (or what) motivates you? 

“One of the people who inspires me alot [is] Kobe Bryant. There’s no doubt in my mind that Kobe Bryant has made me a better person just because of the way he was. He didn’t give up, he loved challenges. And I used to not challenge myself back then, but I once started to know more about him, and just became a fan overall… I love to challenge myself now and have the same mentality as him. He’s one of my biggest inspirations… 

My family. Yeah, I mean one thing I want to do is – I want to make my family proud of me. I know they support me and all, but I really want to show them that I can succeed with all these goals and dreams.. I want to make them proud, you know? Especially my little brother. I want him to like look up to me and say “he’s a good big brother, you know?” 

-Omar, 22

Kes: Protecting Our Home & Future Generations

“My name is Kesya. I am [now 20] years old. I go to Florida International University and study Sustainability and the Environment. I’ve really had sustainability and environmental issues in my life for a long time. I remember as a kid, like since childhood, we’ve always done recycling and went to different [environmental] events and stuff like that. So it’s kind of been incorporated into my life, for my entire life. I’ve always been aware of these issues and I guess that was kind of rooted in me wanting to study it in my future as an adult. Because it’s something that’s really important and affects us everyday. The world is changing, not in the best ways, because of current situations, so we want to try to find solutions to fix that and make the world a better place in the future. 

A sustainable world, to me, is people actually caring about our home. We only have one earth and we have to try and preserve it and try to save it. So I feel like if everyone tried, even if it’s in the smallest ways… Even recycling more, which is surprisingly not as common as people think. A lot of people don’t recycle in their homes. So people can start doing more of that, or trying to save power, saving water, just trying to not be so wasteful and being more aware of the things we do that affect our environment. 

I think the future of our planet is what motivates me. ‘Cause I just want a future, especially for my kids or my grandchildren, people that I care about that are going to live through the planet in the future. I want them to have a healthy and thriving home. I don’t want them to grow up and live in a place that’s slowly decaying. So I guess thinking about future generations is what inspires me to try harder and learn more about the world and find more things to improve it. 

Something else I realize I like to do a lot – When I learn about news topics, I like to learn more about them, explore them more, and try to learn as much information about it. I don’t know if it’s considered a hobby, but [I like to] just learn more information and do research on stuff. I’m a big researcher and I like taking on projects that involve researching and learning about new ideas and things.”

Then, Now, and the Things to Be

by Rhobie Toussaint, posted in Beyond MLEC

At the end of last year, I realized that I never posted the graduation pictures I took with three of my friends. Somehow this gave me the idea to reach out to them. I asked the each of them how it felt to graduate, where they are in their lives right now, and their outlook on the future. I enjoyed getting to hear their stories, and I hope you resonate with or enjoy some parts of them too.

Then, Now, and the Things to Be: Striving For More Success 

“If I’m being honest, I really don’t know how it felt to graduate. What I can tell you is that it certainly wasn’t like the movies. I don’t know if it was just me or because of the circumstances, but it didn’t feel like what it should’ve been and or what I always thought it would be like. Don’t get me wrong, after 12 years of school I was finally able to graduate, and not only did I do that, I did it with Summa Cum Laude and also accomplished so many other things. The things I have achieved have made me happy and proud, but I guess at the time and moment I didn’t really feel all that love or anything for graduating. It was a little sad for me because I was graduating and I guess it was an accomplishment for me but no one really made it feel like a big deal. And I didn’t really have any close/best friends so it was just not that great.

As of now, I’ve had the chance to work, save up money, but also after 12 years of school, finally relax for at least a few months. With that being said, I got into FIU as a student in psychology, and I will be starting in the spring term of January 2022. I’m proud of myself for what I’ve been able to accomplish in high school because that allowed me to get into an amazing school with scholarships and so on. My only wish is that once school starts, I’m able to focus, learn, and study, so that I’m able to achieve the grades I want and grow as a person, in the hopes of succeeding and excelling for my future self as someone in the medical field, all while balancing my life and maintaining a prospering mental state of mind.”

-Rhythm A. 

Then, Now, and the Things to Be: Milestones and Independence 

“Graduating was really difficult for me because my family wasn’t there. It felt weird that I worked so hard for that day and nothing was going the way I wanted. But when I finally got my diploma and walked across that stage I was so ecstatic. That feeling was surreal. The phase that I’m in right now is kind of just living. I’ve  worked hard for twelve years so for now it’s just time to give myself a break. I’m looking forward to finally moving out and getting my own place.” 

-Abigaelle B. 

Then, Now, and the Things to Be: Manifesting Something Better

“Graduating was honestly really good. I remember being happy, but I feel like I was just happy to leave the place I was in. I didn’t want to be in high school anymore. It was like ‘high school sucks. I wanna leave’. I was ready to move on with my life. How do I feel now? I feel good. I feel a little nervous, not gonna lie, but an excited kind of nervous because I don’t know what’s going to happen.

Right now, I’m going into my second semester of college and I feel pretty confident about it. It feels great. I’m going to be starting a job on monday. It’s a big girl job. Like, I have to go in at 7 in the morning and get a background check and everything. It’s a really good job and opportunity which is crazy because I wasn’t even [actively] looking for a job. I was manifesting money and this job came into my life and I was like ‘okay this is a sign.’ You know what I mean?

I feel like I can balance things more now. When I quit my first job, I was just overwhelmed with everything. I didn’t know how to balance managing my mental health properly, and eating, and going to school, and going to work and having to do homework. It was just not working for me. But I feel like I’m ready to balance those things now. I think I was scared of change, but now I’m ready to embrace it. I’m looking forward to the new obstacles. I feel like I’m ready to face them and that I’m stronger now. I believe in myself and I’m more confident than I was before. I’m looking forward to seeing what I’m capable of, growing, being happy, and being in that stable mindset. I feel like I’m getting there.”  

– Laudith D. 

Honestly, it felt really good to do this. I love getting the perspective of others and interviewing people, so working on this really was a breath of fresh air. Hopefully, you got something from their stories, or at the very least enjoyed reading it.

As always, I wish you all the best. May this week be one of prosperity, happiness, and success.

With Love,

Rhobie ❤

Paul

by Rhobie Toussaint, posted in Beyond MLEC

PAUL: MUSICIAN, CHRISTIAN, FAMILY-MAN

During the interview with Paul Douillon, I learned a lot about who he his and his character, but three things stood out the most: he’s God loving, family oriented, and musically inclined. 

GOD

“Initially, my relationship with God was based off of my parent’s relationship with him. It got to a point where I had to make that relationship more personal. I remember at a young age, I was passionate about worshiping and serving God. As I grew older, the passion just doubled, tripled. Around sixteen years old, I went through something pretty intense, and it pushed me further than I have ever been.

Sixteen was one of my hardest years, but my pinnacle was at seventeen because during that year, I had no responsibilities, so I was able to work on my spiritual life.  I spent a lot of time reading, studying books of ministers, learning more about the history of the body, and during that year I’ve probably fasted more than I ever did before.

Now, I don’t have as much time to nurture my spiritual life, but I guess you could say that I do it, but not as much as I did when I had less responsibilities. At the same time I realized that during that year [of seventeen], God gave me the time to make such significant investments in my spiritual life, so that I don’t starve out going into my college years.”

FAMILY

 “I have a good relationship with my entire family, and that’s mostly because any relationship that will last has to be founded on God.

For example, with my dad, when we go to meetings, and he’s the one driving  for hours to get there, I’d be the one to keep him up. One way I would do that is through asking him questions. One thing that we love to talk about is the word of God, we’d break it down, and go over scriptures. I think that us being able to talk throughout the night has formed a very special relationship between me and my dad.

Within all of the great relationships I have with the people in my family is a very cool one with my twin brother.  In our nineteen years of living, we have shared a room, and we have never fought over something. When it comes to things we own, we are so neutral with each other, if there is something here, it’s for both of us. Sometimes it’d go like:

‘You wanted to wear it? I was thinking about wearing it, but you can have it.’

‘No, I want you to have it since you wanted to wear it first.’

We would even lie to each other and say ‘I never wanted it,’ so that the other person can have it, but that never works because we know each other well enough to think otherwise.”

From left to right: Angelo, Sashine, Ruth, Antoine, Gina, and Paul Douillon

MUSIC

“I’m passionate about music. I play eight different instruments [trumpet, drums, piano, baritone, flugelhorn, bass guitar, learning guitar and trombone]. I also want to learn how to play the flute, and the saxophone, and maybe the violin. I want to learn at least 10 instruments in total.

I’ve written a few instrumentals, and one day I would love to make an instrumental album with me playing all of the instruments featured in it. Another dream of mine is for one day, the tunes that I  make to be played by an orchestra, or even further, have the emotional tunes that I make end up on a movie soundtrack.

The music that I play is an extension of who I am. It’s expressing myself without any words. Sometimes, I’ll have a difficult day, and I don’t want to talk to anyone about it, so I’ll go on my piano, let out my emotions through my fingers, and there comes a song. Music is a way I can express myself quite well to the world, and to myself.  Music is also a universal language, it goes past borders. You can put a German, an Australian, an American, a Haitian, and an African in the same room, play the same song, and they will feel the same emotion. I think that’s a beautiful thing.”

Paul founded an organization at his school, Musical Minds, in which members play music at the school and the community, and also teach music to those who would like to learn.

— Paul Douillon, 19, Founder of Musical Minds, College student

 

Art

by Rhobie Toussaint, posted in Beyond MLEC

Piece drawn by Sofia Matheus

For as long as she could remember, Sofia Matheus has a great love for art. It’s one of the things she’s passionate about.

“With art, you can express yourself without actually saying anything. You feel really relaxed when you’re doing it, and you just focus on that, and you don’t need anything else…. I like all forms of art, even those that make you feel uncomfortable. Not every piece was made for your pleasure… All art, every piece, is interesting.”

Sofia also loves literature. She enjoys reading the work of authors such as Edgar Allen Poe and John Green. Sofia would much rather stay home and read books or draw than go out any day.

“When you’re doing things that you like, it feels good… that alone is better than some medicines.”

– Sofia Matheus, Student, 14

Another piece created by Sofia.

His Happiness

by Rhobie Toussaint, posted in Beyond MLEC

“I like to play music. I like to entertain people as well as myself. I like to get a reaction out of people and music is one of the best ways to do that.

When was younger, I started playing piano, but I didn’t like it because it made my fingers hurt and I didn’t find it fun. I told my mom I didn’t want to play music anymore and she kept telling me ‘you’re playing music’. She didn’t give me a choice. Since I hated piano so much, my dad brought me a trumpet and I went to a church band camp in the summer. I played it better than I expected, better than anyone expected , and a month later I was in the church band. Now, I play the baritone, trumpet, and saxophone. Ironically, I also like playing the piano now.

I met my closest friends in band, my best adventures were with band members, a lot of people in church know me because I play in the band, my girlfriend and I saw each other more because of band practices, and this interview would not be happening if you didn’t know me from band.

All of the best things that happened in my life so far occurred because of music.”

– Labrowsky Richard, 18, future Marine