A Family Tradition

Opportunities. Opportunities to learn. Opportunities to grow. Opportunities to achieve. Opportunities to give back.

For the Fernandez-Cardenas family, The College of the Florida Keys has opened the doors of opportunity for two generations, established a family tradition, and set pathways to home-grown success. Between them, the proud Conch family has earned seven CFK diplomas and counting.

The matriarch of the family, Irene, an Operating Room Nurse at Lower Keys Medical Center (LKMC), earned an Associate in Arts and an Associate in Science in Nursing from CFK in 1985. She went on to Florida International University to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing before returning to Key West. Together with husband Bill, a retired Army Ranger and Paratrooper who now leads Section 8 for the Key West Housing Authority, raised three children: Emi, Antonio, and Isa.

“For us, this College is very important to our family story,” said Irene. “My mom came from Cuba in 1958. She does not know how to read or write and never had the opportunity to go to college.” Despite her lack of formal schooling, Irene’s mother and “Abuela” of the family, Emelia Gutierrez Fernandez, was passionate about her daughter’s education. “She encouraged me to attend CFK and now we have done the same with our children.”

Oldest daughter, Emi, gives credit to her mother and grandmother for instilling the importance of higher education. “I started taking college classes while I was a junior at Key West High School through the dual enrollment program. I really liked the teachers and decided that I wanted to keep going and earn my degree at CFK.”

Emi’s younger siblings, Antonio and Isa, joined her at CFK a year later. They too got their first taste of college through the dual enrollment program, which provides a tuition-free jump start to college for Monroe County high school students. Together, the three Cardenas students were a force to be reckoned with on campus. Highly engaged and high-achieving, the three supported and motivated each other with just the right amount of sibling rivalry. All were Student Ambassadors, Student Government Association officers, and earners of multiple scholarships.

Emi earned an Associate in Arts followed by an Emergency Medical Technician diploma in 2017. That was not the end for Emi, though. Following in her mother’s footsteps, Emi then earned an associate degree in nursing at CFK this spring and embarked on a nursing career at LKMC shortly thereafter. In August, she began CFK’s bachelor’s in Nursing and continues to be involved on campus.

Antonio earned his Associate in Arts in 2018 and Isa earned hers in 2019. Both transferred to Florida Gulf Coast University, where they are studying finance. They still drop by campus for a round of “hellos” whenever they are visiting home and intend to return to the island permanently someday.

“We wanted to have our kids to have a sense of community. They could get their education here, work here, and build their lives here,” said their father Bill Cardenas. “Having them at home while they took classes gave them time to mature and helped us immensely to afford their education. They will complete nearly debt-free and prepared to give back to the community.”

“It’s a perfect little place to grow our little Conchs,” adds Irene. “CFK is family to us.”

From the left: Antonio Cardenas, Emelia Gutierrez Fernandez, Irene Fernandez-Cardenas, Isa Cardenas, Bill Cardenas, and Emi Cardenas.

5901 College Road, Key West, FL 33040

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