16
A LUMNI S U C C E S S
HOW STETSON LAUNCHED
“MY AMERICAN DREAM”
Ahmad Yakzan B.A. ’03, M.B.A. ’05, J.D. ’08,
LL.M. ’09 describes community of support
that helped him achieve his goals.
Ahmad Yakzan was at his high school graduation in Lebanon
when he received a packet of information that changed his
life and brought his mother to tears. He had just received
an acceptance letter from a Florida college, along with an
application for a student visa.
“My mother just hugged me in the middle of the basketball court
and started crying because she knew I was going to be going away,”
Yakzan recalls.
It would have been hard for Yakzan to imagine the odyssey this
packet would launch. His journey from Lebanon ultimately led to
Stetson University College of Law and now to his own St.
Petersburg-based practice, the American Dream Law Office.
But even as a teenager on the day of graduation, Yakzan knew he
could not turn down the opportunity.
“The U.S. is known for being the free country that it is and the
land of the American dream,” Yakzan said.
Yakzan, who has four degrees from
Stetson, has achieved his own dream
of becoming a lawyer and now
works to help others navigate the
complexities of the immigration
system.
He is quick to say, “I don’t think my
American dream would be possible
without Stetson.”
Yakzan’s acceptance letter was to
Brevard Community College, now Eastern Florida State College.
When a friend told him about Stetson’s law school, he decided to
visit the Stetson University campus in DeLand and fell in love with
it. He majored in political science as an undergraduate and went
on to receive his M.B.A. before enrolling at Stetson Law in 2006.
Yakzan could not have made it through law school without financial
help, and his lack of finances could have derailed all of his plans. But
Yakzan said he was astonished to find in Stetson a community of
supporters who worked to find scholarships to help him achieve his
goals.
“They really adopted me at Stetson and that’s a beautiful thing,”
Yakzan said. “I was away from my family for 17 and a half years
and I found another one at Stetson. It’s that simple.”
Yakzan had developed a plan to use his law degree to advocate for
the rights of Muslim women. But he said Arturo R. Rios J.D. ’06,
a professor who taught immigration advocacy in Yakzan’s LL.M.
program, “sat me down and said you need to do this; you need to
practice immigration.”
They really adopted me at Stetson and that’s a
beautiful thing. I was away from my family for
17 and a half years and I found another one at
Stetson. It’s that simple.
— Ahmad Yakzan B.A. ’03, M.B.A. ’05, J.D. ’08, LL.M.’09
Three years ago, Yakzan founded his own firm, handling all aspects
of immigration law including visas, green cards, asylum, and
removal proceedings.
“I believe I’m making the country stronger by being here. My story
is just like the story of all my clients. If I thought immigration
made the U.S. weaker I wouldn’t have come here,” said Yakzan.
After receiving so much support from his Stetson family, Yakzan
said it’s only natural for him to give back. So he has established
and contributes to a scholarship at the law school.
“We need to give back,” he said. “I know there are more Ahmad
Yakzans out there.”
B Y C U RT I S K RUEGER
Ahmad Yakzan