MARK COLEmdc. edu.

On this day in 1960, Miami Dade College (MDC) opened its doors to 1,428 students. That they settled into what had been a bunch of old chicken coops in Northwest Miami mattered little. From every corner of the community, people who hadn’t seen a way out or up were suddenly sitting in a college classroom. You can’t put a value on what it meant to feel that sense of possibility.Five years later, MDC was the largest college or university in Florida.