Puerto Rico never fully recovered from Hurricane Maria. As a result of that storm, the University of Central Florida community has seen a large influx of Puerto Rican students.

Since spring 2018, 345 students from Puerto Rico impacted by the hurricane took advantage of the in-state tuition waiver for those who came here because of the deadly storm.

Ian Garcia is a junior at UCF, but rewind five years ago, and he was back in Puerto Rico with his family as Hurricane Maria approached the island. He said they were in the northwestern part, as close to the eye as they could.

“It was a lot of wind, a lot of rain, water pouring inside. Trees falling, you can hear the satellite dishes falling. It was a very chaotic day,” explained Garcia.

The devastation caused by Hurricane Maria forced Ian and his family to leave Puerto Rico a few weeks later. Moving here and starting at a new high school while dealing with the impacts of the storm was a culture shock. 

However, some of his family, including his uncles and grandmother, stayed behind. Garcia said the deadly storm caused structural damage to his home, which was only discovered about a month after moving to Florida because that is when his dad went back to the island to sort things out.

“Every time that it rained, water came inside the house. Either the windows or something with the hurricane. Basically, we lost most of our things because we didn’t know that water was keep coming in the house. We lost a bunch of things there. We had to basically start over,” added the UCF junior.

The connection between this central Florida college campus and the people on the island runs deeper than just welcoming those hundreds of students to the campus after the storm. In September 2017, the Puerto Rican Educational Relief Initiative was approved by the UCF Board of Trustees. One thing this initiative did was allow students from Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands impacted by Hurricane Maria to qualify for in-state tuition through the spring of 2018. That was later extended through the summer of 223.

On the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Maria, the people of Puerto Rico are trying to recover from Hurricane Fiona, which brought flooding to the island. Ian said it is sad the island didn’t fully recover before being hit by another major storm.

“It’s sad, really. It’s really sad because you think a hurricane as strong as that would be a wake-up call to update infrastructure to better protect the island from others storms to come. It is very ironic that on the 5-year mark, this hurricane comes over and devastates blackout majority of the island and leaves it another blackout,” explained Garcia.

He said one thing that needs a major restructure is the power grid. 

Students who are part of the Puerto Rican Student Association at UCF gathered on the 5th anniversary to share stories, write letters to their families and enjoy time together on what was a scary day five years ago.