Monmouth University student beats odds, sets out abroad
WEST LONG BRANCH – Early in life Miguel Nunez Jr.'s odds were set against his future success. He has been homeless, lived in poverty, and was raised in a single-parent household.
Yet none of that gets in his way.
The 21-year-old Asbury Park man graduated from Monmouth University this week — the first in his family to graduate college — with a degree in political science and a minor in Asian studies. In August, he will take his first airplane flight and move to Yokohama, Japan, to teach English in Tokyo.
From the beginning, life was a struggle for Nunez. He was born premature and spent three months on life support, he said. His single mother was strict about homework, Nunez said.
Those were just the beginnings of his obstacles.
"Our house burned down the day after my sixth birthday," Nunez recalled.
He and his mother were homeless for months afterward. They slept in motels and ate inexpensive fast food, he said.
In fourth grade, Nunez and his mother moved to Asbury Park, a city where he later met a group of mentors and teachers who helped prepare him for college.
It was those teachers and counselors at Asbury Park High School who introduced Nunez to Monmouth University and helped him recreate similar academic activities at his high school. Their inspiration helped him to launch the high school's first debate team.
"I guess that (the debate team) was the first really cool thing I saw at Monmouth U.," Nunez recalled. "I wanted more academic focus for the (Asbury Park) school."
Project BAM, a program that connects Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monmouth County with Asbury Park High School and Monmouth University, helped support the debate team, Nunez said. More than four years after the launch, Asbury's team still exists and is coached by Monmouth University students.
Like in his debates, Nunez brings determination to life's obstacles.
"It's your job to overcome it," he said. "Stay strong and stay focused... You have to have that drive and willingness."
Amanda Oglesby: 732-557-5701; aoglesby@GannettNJ.com