Miguel Ortiz-Cruz and his family living in Pender County experienced devastation to their home and lives by Hurricane Florence in September 2018. For over one year, Miguel’s family lived in FEMA shelters while the family waited for their jobs to return and roads could be restored so the family could begin rebuilding their house.
There was a silver lining to Miguel’s experience. In this podcast he shares how he learned the benefits of asking for help and leveraging personal experiences to become an advocate for other college students managing homelessness while earning a degree. Miguel accessed the Hurricane Emergency Grants offered by NC college students as well as all of the assistance NC State made available. Normally avoiding any attention, it was during the experience of living through Hurricane Florence and the after-math he became vocal in the media with local, state and national media.
Miguel graduated from Magna Cum Laude in May 2020 with a degree in Technology, Design and Engineering from the College of Education. While at NC State he was active in the Marching Band, Bellydance Club, and TRIO.