He changed laws and inspired youth. Now, this Miami Lakes grad is Harvard-bound

Miami Herald

5 days ago

Former Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid still remembers the first time he met Maurits Acosta. He was a seventh grader with a pitch to prevent street flooding in the wake of Tropical Storm Eta. Cid told him to put it in writing. A week later, it landed in his inbox.
Acosta organized support, presented before the town council, and defended the proposal at multiple hearings. It passed — modifying a 17-year-old ordinance which, according to Cid, has benefited dozens if not hundreds of households since its revision.
'Nobody questioned it until a seventh-grader said, 'We can do better,'' Cid said. 'That's civic leadership.'
That same kid just graduated Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School on Tuesday and is now Boston-bound. He was accepted at Yale University, but he decided he wants to head to Harvard, a testimony to the dedication of a student who made it his mission to show others the importance of being civically engaged. He's the pride of a community that just got out of his way and let him lead — even giving him an office inside his high school as a command center for his many projects and initiatives.
At 18, Acosta's resumé is staggering: he served a one-year term as student advisor to the School Board of Miami-Dade County, served in multiple public service roles for the Town of Miami Lakes, and in 2022 launched a nonprofit, Virtuem Populo, dedicated to promoting civic engagement among youth across Florida. His alma mater, Miami Lakes Middle School, even named an award after him. ('He's a legend here,' said Miami Lakes Middle social studies teacher Lisa Deyarza, who helped Acosta organize the anti-flooding ordinance initiative.)
Acosta worked on dozens of local initiatives and advised the mayor himself. Cid said Acosta's journey 'deserves a movie at some point,' and also offers a blueprint: Start in the classroom, expand to the school, then the community, county, and eventually the country.
'Not a talker, a doer'
Born and raised in the Netherlands by his Cuban-born parents, Acosta moved to the U.S. at age 9. In the years since, he's woven himself into the civic fabric of Miami Lakes, driven by a blend of pride in his heritage and democratic idealism.
A visit to Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School with Acosta quickly becomes a walk through his legacy. Ashwan Lawson, a security guard, greets him at the front desk with a laugh and a nickname: 'Marco Rubio!'
The school has benefited from Acosta's ambition. Social studies teacher Rukayat Adebisi, who heads HML's legal studies program, first heard from Acosta in summer 2021 — weeks before he'd even started freshman year. Over the phone, he pitched her a vision: build the school its first-ever courtroom, a feature other schools had but HML lacked.
'He's telling me all his plans and I kept thinking, 'who is this kid telling me what we're about to do?'' Adebisi said. 'But I listened. I was like, 'Okay, we'll see where this goes.''
Once enrolled, Acosta successfully rallied a team of students to lobby the Miami Lakes Education Advisory Board and other entities, securing funding for the project along with a renovation of the school's planetarium. On Friday, four years later, the school is cutting the ribbon on its new courtroom.
'He's not a talker; he's a doer,' said Adebisi, who also serves on Virtuem Populo's board of directors. 'I think he challenges his peers to be better versions of themselves. I think that's his legacy.'
Acosta's other feats at HML include starting a foodie club and launching the school's first-ever alumni association, which had its kickoff event earlier this month with over 100 in attendance, according to Acosta.
'Not to toot my own horn — but I feel like a lot of the work I've done, I've been able to bring up others with me,' Acosta said.
By senior year, Acosta had three internship periods built into his schedule — time used for civic meetings, community events, and duties from his school board advisory role.
Inside his office, which is nestled within the school's front office, walls are adorned with memorabilia: a proclamation from Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, framed photos with U.S. Senator Rick Scott and President Joe Biden and a Harvard tumbler beside a business cardholder. Among the keepsakes is a class assignment from a fellow Miami Lakes Middle School alum, declaring her dream: to become 'the next Maurits.'
Acosta says his free time is limited — 'not a lot, but just enough.' He recently picked up golf ('not great at it,' he admits), and plans a summer trip to Nicaragua to meet the family of his girlfriend, Melany Alvarez, who's heading to Florida State University to study sociology. She preceded him as student body president and captained the dance team at HML.
Are they HML's power couple?
'I think so, yeah. A little bit,' Acosta said.
'Greatness doesn't require privilege, only purpose'
Acosta, who leaves for Boston in August, is unsure about where exactly his career path is headed. He's still considering whether he wants to study law or government at Harvard, but he said he's sure of one thing: 'I want to live a life dedicated to public service.' Asked about whether his name would one day appear on a Florida ballot, Acosta said 'maybe.'
'I definitely envision myself one day coming back to Miami and serving this community that's opened its doors to me and my family,' he said.
Acosta's passion for public service is rooted, in part, by a sense of responsibility stemming from his family's experiences living in Cuba. Although his parents, Sergio and Anet, left Cuba decades ago, Acosta still has family in the country.
His parents met in the Netherlands in the late 1990s, when his father was working as a radio journalist and producer. When his employer, Radio Netherlands, faced federal funding cuts, the family made the decision to move to U.S.
The hardest part of emigrating was convincing the then 9-year-old Maurits, his father said, but the move ultimately 'went well for all of us, but especially for him.'
'I think the Phenomenon Maurits Acosta will continue to grow and expand.' Sergio Acosta said. 'I wait for it with curiosity. After all, he's only 18 years old.'
He's already primed the next generation of Miami-Dade changemakers. At Virtuem Populo, the executive director-elect is Clint John Jr., a bespectacled, bowtie-wearing eighth grader got involved two years ago after cold-messaging Acosta. Within months, he was assistant deputy director.
'He saw something in me that I didn't see myself,' John said. 'To bring me into the organization — that right there was a changemaker for me.'
Just like he brought John into the fold, Acosta has spent much of high school pushing his peers to take themselves seriously and take action. His message has been consistent: don't wait for permission — do the work.
That spirit was on full display Tuesday night, when Acosta delivered his valedictorian speech at Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School's graduation ceremony. Speaking to an audience of hundreds at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center at FIU, told his peers that they had 'proved to the world that greatness doesn't require privilege, only purpose.'
'We are students who speak Spanish in the hallway and dream of a better tomorrow,' Acosta said. 'We are the children of field workers, teachers, mechanics, nurses, undocumented laborers and silent heroes. And somehow, despite everything, we made it.'
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