In fall 2014, Ana Cortez left her Lakeland home to attend FSU Panama City to study Business Administration. Faced with meeting new people and becoming familiar with a new city, she has turned her passion into a student organization: Project Runway.

As a home schooled student, Justice Wobser began regularly attending classes at Gulf Coast State College when he was 16. Catapulted into adulthood, Wobser found the key to academic success through hard work, self-discipline and responsibility. He now is an Electrical Engineering major at FSU Panama City.

Jake Hamilton is a first-generation college student who made it to college against all odds. Coming from a family with no higher education background, he still pursued his dreams of going to college with their support. He graduated high school in Sebring, Fla., and moved to Panama City to study business administration.

Taylor Dorrough thought she wanted the typical college experience at a major university, but she ultimately discovered a smaller campus was right for her. After attending the University of Kentucky for two years, she found the right fit with the Business Administration program at FSU Panama City.

Coming from the two-light town of Samson, Ala., Emily Crews is used to small. Now a sophomore electrical engineering major at FSU Panama City, she feels right at home in less than 400 square feet of living space.

Stephany Bittar made history twice in her first year of college. She came to FSU Panama City as a member of the inaugural freshman class and now has become the first underclassman president of the campus’ Student Government Council.

Adam Wendt and his family moved to Panama City because he wanted to learn from the best. Already a professional diver and scuba instructor, Wendt enrolled in FSU Panama City’s Underwater Crime Scene Investigation certificate program. Just a few months later, he and fellow divers from FSU Panama City were called on as the best to recover the body of a missing swimmer in Austin, Texas.

Brandon Harmon has become a local celebrity at FSU Panama City. Dressed in his signature Florida State jersey, Harmon has been featured on a billboard, a TV commercial and a number of campus publications. He is also a regular attendee at student meetings and campus events. Now, his legacy of Seminole pride will continue on campus through the Brandon Harmon Seminole Spirit Award, announced May 2 at Student Government Council’s Graduation Awards Banquet. Each year, the recipient will receive a plaque and a $100 scholarship through his namesake award.

Erin Wommack knows how to set herself apart from a crowd through networking and negotiation. Using techniques she learned at FSU Panama City, she is responsible for bringing tenants to the Longview Mall in Longview, Texas, as a leasing manager for Simon Property Group. Wommack earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Professional Communication in spring 2013.

As a recent American citizen, Irvin Morales bleeds red, white and blue. As a Publix employee, he also bleeds green. Morales’ path to the “American dream” began 15 years ago, when his mother immigrated to the United States empty-handed from El Salvador. In hopes of becoming a store manager, he now is in his final semester before earning his bachelor’s degree in business administration at FSU Panama City.