{"id":31414,"date":"2019-08-14T15:45:39","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T19:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=31414"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:12:12","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:12:12","slug":"new-student-miranda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=31414","title":{"rendered":"Incoming Tar Heel will continue training as a \u201chumanitarian warrior\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Abel Miranda (right) with fellow hospital corpsman and mentor in Okinawa, 2016, 1st BN 12th Marines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Abel Miranda first enrolled in college nine years ago, something didn\u2019t feel right. He was doing well in his classes, but something was missing.<\/p>\n

Miranda enlisted in the Navy, hoping the move would give his life new direction and purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just felt like a perfect fit for me,\u201d said Miranda.<\/p>\n

During his five years as a medic embedded with the Marine Corps, which included a deployment to Okinawa, Japan, he learned the value of sacrifice and found the direction he was seeking.<\/p>\n

Now, the former petty officer second class from Charlotte is headed to Carolina as an incoming junior, hoping to combine his Navy training with a desire to help others to become what he calls a \u201chumanitarian warrior.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of my training and experiences in the Navy, I definitely have enough discipline, enough drive and enough charisma to do my part to make a difference,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s a responsibility to use these things that I\u2019ve been lucky to learn in my life and put them to good use. I\u2019m exactly where I need to be to continue my journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The warrior ethos<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Navy has a saying, \u201cShip. Shipmate. Self.\u201d It means that sailors should first focus on keeping the ship afloat. Then, look out for shipmates. Finally, look out for yourself. That means you\u2019re ready to go at all times.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we have a mission to complete, it\u2019s bigger than me,\u201d Miranda said. \u201cYou have to put people above yourself at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miranda said these three characteristics are incorporated in the warrior ethos \u2014 to sacrifice yourself for the good of your fellow crew members and the mission.<\/p>\n

His parents set this example for him as he was growing up.<\/p>\n

Miranda\u2019s parents moved from Ecuador to Miami when he was 9. They left behind careers in architecture and banking to build a better life for their children while working at a local Steak \u2018n Shake.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents were willing to do anything for the people that they loved and cared about,\u201d he said, \u201cso that always drives me to keep an eye out for the people I care about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fighting for others<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Miranda says Carolina is the perfect place for him to continue what he calls his humanitarian training.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of great minds here who are accomplishing really important, global things,\u201d said Miranda. \u201cThe person sitting next to me in biology class might be the one to find the cure for HIV.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miranda will major in biology and plans to attend medical school. He wants to improve health care access by providing the care himself and helping to restructure the country\u2019s health care system.<\/p>\n

As a child, Miranda grew up without health insurance. He never had regular medical checkups and his family discouraged him from participating in some activities, like playing on the middle school football team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must have been in the back of my parents\u2019 minds at all times,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018If somebody gets hurt or gets really sick, it\u2019s going to turn our whole world upside down.\u2019 That\u2019s kind of crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hopes his time at Carolina and then in medical school will prepare him to help lift that burden from other families.<\/p>\n

Starting strong in Chapel Hill<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Miranda\u2019s Carolina experience has already started. This summer, he participated in the Start Strong Summer Transition organized by the\u00a0Carolina Mxle Scholars<\/a>. The program is designed to help underrepresented men, first-generation students and\u00a0Carolina Covenant Scholars<\/a>\u00a0successfully acclimate to campus before classes start.<\/p>\n

Participating in the program gave Miranda the chance to get a head start on another of his goals at Carolina: sharing his experiences and perspectives with other students, many of whom have not had the same life experiences as the 28-year-old.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big opportunity to help others that he says he doesn\u2019t want to miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back on my life, I want to know that I did my best to make a huge difference in the lives of other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Will Rimer, University Communications<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After serving five years in the Navy as a medic, incoming Carolina student Abel Miranda says he\u2019s in the perfect place to continue his training as a \u201chumanitarian warrior.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":31415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,29,33,17,21,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-general","category-media-news","category-natural-sciences-mathematics","category-news","category-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31414"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49506,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31414\/revisions\/49506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}