May 14, 2026

To start, Mario Recinos is a New York native and a U.S. Air Force veteran. After completing his military service, he’s been a small business owner, a real estate investor and a cybersecurity analyst. As of June 2026, he’ll also be a college graduate, receiving his bachelor’s degree from Goodwin’s Interdisciplinary Professional Studies (IDPS) program and serving as student commencement speaker at Goodwin’s ceremony on June 10.

After relocating to the Philadelphia area in 2021 with academic credits from two other institutions in North Carolina and South Carolina, Recinos began his studies at Drexel in 2023 and completed his degree while working full-time.

“The experience that I had at Drexel was beautiful,” he says. “I went to two different colleges previously and didn’t feel I was actually learning something or that I had true support from the faculty. Drexel was completely the opposite.”

He singles out courses in writing and in family law as having an especially strong impact, and notes he felt a sense of belonging among other students taking a less traditional path toward college education.

That feeling was especially prevalent in another law course, where he was one of several students who had navigated the U.S. legal system.

Recinos overcame difficulties in his personal life as he pursued both education and his career. While living in North Carolina, he was engaged in a custody dispute with an ex-partner that led to his young daughter being taken out of state and missing for seven months. As part of that dispute, he was jailed on false charges, which gave a special significance to Wrongful Convictions, taught by Assistant Teaching Professor of Law Tiffani Hurst, JD, PhD, during winter term 2026. 

“That class changed my life because I met people who faced similar situations to me, but who were also on the path to becoming lawyers,” he says. “It was an inspiration, and also a place where I felt normal after having such a difficult past. A lot of people can sympathize, but they can't necessarily empathize.”

Along with relating his personal story and the obstacles he’s overcome, Recinos wants to impart to his fellow Goodwin graduates that “how something looks on your resume isn’t how it felt in real life.”

Even now — on track to receiving his college degree and working in security, with plans to attend law school — he says, “if I told you the journey and how I got here, it was completely different from the results.”

He also notes that he’ll be graduating at the same time as a childhood friend from North Carolina, John Nguyen, who is receiving his MBA from the LeBow College of Business.

“In every class, I learned something new and got introduced to different methods of reaching my goal,” he says. “I had a great experience, and it was all because of having supportive faculty and advisors.”