Law graduate earns HYPE Award, re-writes his story

In 2011, Daniel Horton ’15 packed his bags, tied his mattress to the roof of his pick-up truck and moved from Atlanta to Miami with one goal in mind: law school.

Five years later, Horton’s list of accomplishments include being a graduate of FIU Law; the president of the law student body; the peer-elected student speaker at the graduation ceremony; and, most recently, the recipient of one of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s HYPE (Helping Young Professionals Engage) awards.

The Chamber recognized Horton with the Most Valuable Graduate award, based on his academic and community achievements as a recent college graduate.

“Receiving the award is truly an honor, ” Horton says. “When I moved to Miami, I focused on getting involved in the community and I like to see people happy. There are such good people in this city and there are a lot of people who need help – emotional, financial, physical. That help is out there, and I just want to help as many people as I can.”

Horton chose FIU Law because it was affordable and it gave him the opportunity to get involved in an “up-and-coming” school.

“FIU law has great professors, great faculty and a really diverse student body. FIU brings in a lot of first generation Americans, many minorities, and also has a number of students who come from poverty that are trying to re-write their own futures. It’s a really awesome mix of people.”

Horton grew up in a family that faced tough economic needs. He recalls his church and neighbors helped his family by giving them food, clothes and support.

“I feel like I owe a debt to society,” he says. “I’ve had good people throughout my life when I needed it. I feel like it’s my responsibility to help others in the same way I was helped.”

Horton, who earned a bachelor’s in English from Kennesaw State University, worked in restaurants for about seven years to pay for his undergraduate education. When he entered law school, he realized, for the first time in his life, he would not be able to work full-time. The law school workload can be strenuous and when Horton was admitted the American Bar Association limited full-time law students to work no more than 20 hours per week.

Horton decided to get involved on-campus, joining multiple student organizations and eventually becoming president of the law school’s student body. He also enrolled in the Chamber’s Leadership Miami program, which connects young professionals with non-profit organizations in need of help.

Horton’s Leadership Miami team was paired up with Chapman Partnership, which helps homeless individuals and families by providing housing, food and assistance to get them back on their feet.

His team set up a job fair for Chapman residents and got speakers to host workshops to prepare residents for the fair. For this project, Horton’s team won the Outstanding Project of the Year award from the Chamber.

“We ended up having quite a few people get jobs on the spot [at the job fair]. For a lot of residents that was a huge deal,” Horton says. “You’ve never seen people that were more grateful to have someone care about them than those in this organization.”

William Diaz-Rousselot ’96, FIU alumnus and project chair of Leadership Miami says: “I was a little fascinated with Daniel.” As an attorney at Kurkin Brandes LLP, he says juggling law school and the leadership program is quite a feat: Leadership Miami is immensely rewarding, but it’s also a seven-month-long pressure cooker.

He adds that usually businesses pay for their employees to attend the program, but Horton was sponsored by FIU Law and was awarded scholarship funds from the South Florida Progress Foundation.

“Daniel showed initiative from the get-go. It was pretty awesome to watch,” he says. “He stuck out in the team. He is passionate – the way he delivers, the way he presents his position. He is a leader and it shows, just the way he interacts with people.”

As a result, Horton was asked to take the next step in the program and become a facilitator – a mentor to a new group of professionals going through the program.

Horton’s future goals: He plans to stay in Miami, and he says he would love to run for state legislature in Florida.

He is grateful Miami has allowed him to write his own future. “I really believe that Miami is a city of opportunity. The city welcomes in everyone from everywhere. You have such a mix of different nationalities here. You’re judged in Miami based on what you do, your passion and how hard you are willing to work.”