Michael Ming

Student

“Having my own company will free me up to hire disadvantaged young people and give them an environment where they can excel.”

Meet Michael Ming. As of this writing, candidate for Vice President of the Associated Students. Future corporate head, architect, lawyer, and black belt in karate. If his progress in karate is any indication of how he tackles life, the rest of it will be a piece of cake. “When I started studying karate with Darrell Goode, he really inspired me,” says Mike. “Now I’m into it full swing.” In a recent tournament, he was the most advanced of the beginning white belts and well on his way to advancing to green belt status.

“My plan is to be an architect and set up a corporation as a builder. And then I want to graduate in business law so I can also be my own lawyer.” Mike admits his goals are going to include some grueling hours of study and work. “But life is too short to do anything halfway,” he says. “And I don’t want to be dependent on anybody.”

Mike comes from South Central Los Angeles where all too often competitive urges turn in on themselves with very destructive results. “That’s the problem with our whole community,” he says with sincere anger. “We’re usually all so busy just trying to survive that we never direct an energy into moving forward.”

Mike says he’s planning to transfer to “Howard University in D.C. or Berkeley. They’re both challenging schools with good architectural programs.” He offers new students at SMC a piece of advice: “When you come in, realize you’re an adult. And that just means you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.” But having said that, Mike admits to another side of himself. “I love racing my remote control cars and collecting comics. I guess that makes me sound like just a big kid,” he says with a laugh.

Back