By: John Jay Sports Information
This week, johnjayathletics.com caught up with former John Jay women's soccer player Daniela Molina ('15). Molina was a three-year student-athlete and a starting defender for the Bloodhounds. Off the field, she was a scholar-athlete and Dean's List student. The Brooklyn native majored in philosophy and minored in Humanities and Justice. We caught up with Molina to discuss her John Jay College memories, post-graduation, and the lessons she learned as a Bloodhound.
1) Where has life taken you since you graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice?
I graduated from John Jay College in 2015 with the promise of taking one year off before enrolling to Law School. It has been three years thus far, and life has taken me slowly to different stages of the real world-work experience. At first, I was not lucky enough to find a job in what I wanted nor in what I specialized (Philosophy and Humanities and Justice) but I still ran a myriad of part time jobs to save money for law school. I went from a bookkeeper and executive assistant to a coffee crew member, bike delivery girl, front desk receptionist, translator, legal assistant, and so on. Life has taken me to stages where I suppose order mattered to this day – Why? Because I wanted to have a strong reason, a firm impetus to go to law school. Today, I have the answer. I have started the application process expecting to attend in the fall 2019. I am directing my goal to study Immigration Law and/or Civil Law.
2) What personal or professional accomplishment(s) are you most proud of since you graduated?
The professional accomplishment I am most proud of since I graduated from John Jay has been to be involved in closed conferences pertaining Human Trafficking hosted by the Court of Innovation and Association of Women Judges. My three-year mentor Hon. Carmen Velasquez has included me on this journey in which I have been exposed to the world's largest criminal mafia and violation of human rights. Women judges from around the globe come together in the New York Court of Innovation for a couple of days to discuss first hand cases, laws that must be amended in the International ambit and resolutions to fight the evil of human trafficking. The second accomplishment has been to work at the General Consulate of Mexico in New York. I never thought I would be able to document and process certain documentation to my co-nationals. The most rewarding and gratifying feeling is to hand in a passport to someone who has lived most of their life outside of Mexico, who never had a passport nor any type of official identification; it is like literally breaking one of the shackles of the system. The third accomplishment came when I was selected to be part of the Women Empowerment Leadership Cohort from the New York Immigration Coalition. As a WE Lead navigator, I also carried a sense of responsibility that extended beyond my ethical liabilities; in this time of constant changes in our political system my role entailed being mentally strong, hopeful, and giving. Every working environment and stage of my life post John Jay has impacted my personal and professional life the right way. Doing things different would have changed my current perspective of life.
3) What are you most proud of from your time as a Bloodhound?
There are many features from which I'm proud during my time as a Bloodhound; one of them is the one-to-one advisement program dedicated to athletes and the series of appointments we had to attend to make sure we were academically on track. For the John Jay Athletics Department, the foremost mission is to build complete athletes, be great on the field, and successful in the classrooms. Another thing I am most proud of during my time as a Bloodhound is the degree of responsibility, discipline, and dedication I grew. I am proud of the family and bonds I created with every single member of the Athletics Department, starting at the heart, which is composed of my teammates and coaches.
4) What advice would you give your college self/current Bloodhounds?
The advice I would give to current bloodhounds is to plan accordingly both for classes (due assignments, midterms, finals) and for the field. It is equally important to be successful in the classroom as it is on the field. Take pride of the prestige of being an athlete; represent the athletics department with high standards everywhere you go! People who observe you will always ask you - "How do you do that?" and praise your hard work.
5) What did you learn in your time at John Jay that has stayed with you in your post-collegiate life?
During my time at John Jay I learned to always work hard, cliché and simple. As an athlete from an urban campus, we work extremely hard to commute to school, practice, games, jobs, and back to our homes. The resiliency that athletes cultivate every season is not compared to other on-campus college experience.
6) Are you still involved with sports? If so, how?
I still play soccer with friends at my local park to keep the tradition of the sport.
2018 Women's Soccer Preview: After finishing 2017 with their best season in program history, the team is continuing to push forward with a deep roster and competitive fall schedule. The Bloodhounds are returning 2017 CUNYAC Rookie of the Year, and leading goal scorer, Kimberly Robledo. Despite graduating 11 seniors one year ago, the young squad consisting of 14 new players will have more strength at each position and look to compete for the CUNYAC title this fall.
Are you an athletics alumni and want to be featured in a spotlight article? Please fill out a questionnaire at www.johnjayathletics.com/alumniquestions and a member of the athletics staff will contact you.
Follow John Jay Athletics
Website ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ YouTube
