Student Receives National Recognition
Juan Llanes' journey a long one
Lauren Blais
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Features
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Juan Llanes was nationally recognized in USA Today as one of the top twenty students nominated for the team, which is sponsored by USA Today, Phi Theta Kappa and the American Association of Community Colleges.
Llanes was also named Georgia's New Century Scholar as the top-scoring nominee in the state.
GSC president Martha Nesbitt accompanied Llanes to the AACC annual conference in Phoenix earlier this month.
"To me it's a real feather in our cap ... to have a nationally recognized student," said Nesbitt. "And it's reaffirming that we provide opportunities for all types of students. It is a real tribute to him though, because if you know Juan's story, then you know what obstacles he had to overcome."
Llanes is humble about his achievements.
"I'm not a special person," he said, "I just have a special story."
Now a permanent American resident, Llanes is originally from Cuba. Though the country is just 90 miles south of Florida, Llanes' journey would ultimately take him over nearly 12,000 miles of ocean and land.
He said that coming to America is one thing. Getting out of Cuba is an entirely separate process, handled at leisure by the government, which is considered to be a single-party communist state.
When he was 12 or 13 his father received the opportunity to leave Cuba and go to Mexico. In order for Llanes to accompany him, his mother had to sign a document giving away her rights as his parent.
Despite having his visa and all his paperwork together, Llanes' departure was continuously delayed by the government. But he was not deterred.
He remembered saying to his family, "I'm going to leave here, now, later: it doesn't matter what they say, because I will leave at some point."
Like most young Cuban men, Llanes was required to serve in the military after high school. The place he served was near an airport. In the mornings he would see a plane from Spain fly in. He pointed it out to his fellow soldiers.
"I used to tell them that that was the plane I was going to leave on," he said. "Surprising to me, after I left the military and got all my documents together, that was the same plane I left on."
Llanes finally left Cuba for Spain with his sisters in December 2005. After staying a few weeks with relatives, the trio flew to Mexico City. There they got on a bus and headed to the Mexican-American border.
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