For 20-year-old midfielder Bruno Barbosa, balancing soccer with the mechanical engineering program at FIU is not only about competition on the field, it also is about learning the skills it will take to realize his goals.

“In 10 years hope to be working for Boeing or any company that has to do with airplanes. And I hope to be married, raising a family,” he said. “And of course, I would love to play a World Cup!”

While his feet are planter firmly on the soccer field, Barbosa is most confident FIU will help his dreams take flight – and is not afraid to work hard to make this happen.

Recently, we met with Barbosa and asked him a few questions:

What I enjoy most about playing soccer:
The competition among my teammates and with our opponents.

The life of a scholar-athlete:
Any free time I have I spend studying, be it on the weekends or before going away for a game. It can be difficult to do both. It takes a long day and a lot of work to do well both in class and on the field.

On why he chose FIU: My family and I have lived in Miami for eight years. I wanted to stay close to home so my parents could come and see the games. That, and I’ve wanted to be an engineer since I was in high school and FIU has a excellent program.

My dream:
I would love to play a World Cup! I hope that 10 years from now I’ll still be playing soccer, but really, I hope to be working for Boeing or any company that has to do with airplanes. And I hope to be married, maybe have a child.

FIU is so proud that this young man is a member of the Golden Panther family that we are featuring him in a “Best in Class” ad campaign that is running in The Miami Herald.

The campaign began with a spotlight on last year’s valedictorians who chose to attend FIU. We recently expanded the campaign to include FIU faculty and researchers, scholar-athletes, student scholars and alumni.