For student-athlete Ruqayyah “Ruki” Abdul-Khabir Kennedy, MiraCosta College became more than a stepping stone; it became the foundation for everything that followed.
A successful volleyball player growing up, Ruki had always balanced a lifestyle of academics and athletics. So when it came time to pursue higher education, it was a no-brainer that Ruki would land somewhere with a strong volleyball program.
Like many of her peers, Ruki decided on a four-year university and went north to play at UC Davis. But soon after stepping onto campus, Ruki realized that the distance from home and the massive campus environment left her feeling disconnected. She knew she needed a change but wasn’t sure what that change should be.
That’s when MiraCosta College came into the picture. Growing up, Ruki had fond memories visiting her grandmother in Oceanside. She loved the community, and she knew the region fit her style well. And when she stepped onto MiraCosta College's Oceanside campus for the first time, which was also the first day of volleyball practice, she knew immediately she'd made the right choice.
“I just kind of looked around and was like, well, I guess this is what I'm doing now,” Ruki recalled with a laugh. “And I thought, this is perfect. I'm by the beach, I'm near my family, playing volleyball. What else can I ask for?”
Ruki also remembered the early feelings of how intimate and supportive the classes were at MiraCosta College. After coming from UC Davis with class sizes that numbered in the hundreds, Ruki relished the opportunity to speak one-on-one with her classmates and professors on a daily basis.
What she found at MiraCosta College was more than proximity to home. She found a place that would help her grow as both an athlete and a student, and a community that cared about her as a person first.
“Everyone was so supportive,” noted Ruki. “No matter what you wanted to do, what your goals were, or how often you changed them, the counselors and professors took time to help you personally. That made a huge difference.”
On the volleyball court, Ruki learned to be a stronger teammate. Coach Muscat was intentional about developing each player and pushed the team to try new things. He also emphasized communication, creating an environment where mistakes were opportunities to improve.
Explained Ruki, “MiraCosta College helped me be a better teammate. Coming out of high school, there’s a sense of individuality because you’re trying to get recruited, but at MiraCosta College I started to let go of that. I had teammates who provided honest feedback without making it personal. We learned how to communicate what we needed from one another, and we could grow together.”
The same went for the classroom. Ruki still remembers one of her favorite classes with religious studies professor Jeff Murico.
“He would encourage healthy debate and active learning,” said Ruki. “Professor Murico would let us debate and discuss difficult topics, and even when things got heated he approached everything with a calm point of view, helping us assess each topic with a balanced mindset.”
This is when her academic path truly started to take shape. An analytical person by nature, Ruki loved the concept of looking at all the facts and making decisions based on what she learned. She was also an avid history buff. Ruki loved talking to her friends about different historical events and what she had learned about the past. So much so that one day a teammate suggested, “Why don’t you major in history?”
Shortly thereafter, Ruki talked to her counselor and made the switch. That decision led to a degree in social sciences and then, after transferring to a four-year university to continue her volleyball career and obtain her bachelor’s, she continued on to earn a master’s in history from Cal Poly and a master’s in sports management from Long Beach State.
Shared Ruki, “My trajectory is a bit winding, but that’s where MiraCosta College helped me most. It allowed me the environment and community to experiment with what I did and did not like. That freedom to explore without judgment or fear was so important.”
Today, Ruki is building a future that mirrors her opportunities at MiraCosta College. She continues to help the next generation of students as a volleyball coach and as a teacher, and she just recently finished an internship as an assistant athletic director. Just like the athletic department staff and professors at MiraCosta College did for her, Ruki wants to be that person who takes the time to get to know her students and help them achieve their dreams.