A bright Saturday August morning at Bethel Baptist Church sees a crowd of eager kids and their families. They come for the Azure College Back to School Fair. Partnering with the church and local organizations, Azure College and its students help provide free school supplies and medical check-ups to young children before the start of their school year. The moment captures the core spirit of Azure College – new beginnings, a fresh start – appropriate for a college dedicated to helping its students find a new, prosperous path.

Azure began with humble intentions, when a group of healthcare professionals in Florida wanted to help local immigrant students join their vocation. What was once a small classroom with five students has bloomed into today’s Azure College. Azure offers diploma, associate and bachelor degree programs in nursing, computer technology, real estate and business management at its Miami Gardens, Sebring and Lauderdale Lakes campuses.

“Today’s labor market is becoming increasingly competitive,” notes Johnson Napoleon, president of Azure College. “The 20th century was about strength. If you could do manual labor, you could have had a great job, build a career and accomplish the American Dream. The 21st century is about information. The ones who can synthesize information and make sense out of it are the ones winning in today’s world. Azure College can provide students the necessary practical work skills employers seek and desire.”

This cherishing of technology at Azure College means cutting edge teaching tools for the classroom – an arsenal of high definition LCD monitors, ELMO presenters, audio-visual equipment and projection microscopes. For their nursing programs, labs are equipped with the latest simulations equipment from hospital equipment suppliers Laerdal and METI. Azure’s online course options, supported by the multimedia library and Learning Resource Center, offer all the amenities of the classroom with the accessibility of the internet.

The program also pairs classroom theory with professional exposure to ensure career-ready students. Externships allow students to work in their study area with Azure College’s many business and clinical partners. The college’s Career Service also assists each student with job search by targeting prospective job openings and developing interview and resume presentations.

What makes Azure distinct from other career schools is its particular care and understanding of the unique needs of immigrants. Azure College is one of the first Caribbean-owned schools of nursing in South Florida. Degrees earned abroad are often accepted as credits. The faculty boasts instructors from all around the world, enabling them to temper their instruction with their own awareness of the difficulty of transitioning.

“A college education is a difficult endeavor. When you’re an immigrant, it’s even more difficult,” says college president Napoleon. “Our staff members speak Spanish, Haitian Creole and even Jamaican Patois. We help immigrants finish their high school, we help foreign medical doctors, dentists and nurses become productive quickly in the USA and we offer struggling high school students scholarships.”

In these uncertain times, it is this promise of new beginnings that keeps Azure College graduates confident towards the future.