Barry University graduate Luca Mcleod has always been an outsider of sorts. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia; grew up in London, England; Barcelona, Spain; and Koblenz, Germany; and currently lives in Miami, Florida. He attended six different schools across four countries in 12 years. He’s multiracial and multinational and has no simple answer to the question: “Where are you from?”
Mcleod found home at Barry University over the past four years, though. A recent Barry grad who majored in computer information systems, with a specialization in cybersecurity and a minor in psychology, Mcleod was also a Barry Service Corps Fellow, a resident assistant for five semesters, a FlexLearning supervisor, and a member of the Student Managed Investment Fund at Barry.
He has interned for Lennar, a Fortune 200 company, and the NFL. At last year’s admissions event “Buc for a Day” he spoke about his background as a racially and ethnically mixed person on a panel session entitled “Social and Racial Justice.” Along with community partners, he helped develop a series of YouTube videos around financial literacy that address racism and implicit bias among youth in Miami.
“Ever since I heard about Barry University’s four core commitments during those first few days on campus, I told myself that by the time I graduated, I wanted to have excelled at each one of them, not as an end goal, but as the foundation to the rest of my life.”
Post-graduation, Mcleod is working on his debut novel, The Foreign National, which will be published through New Degree Press in December 2021. The book traces its main character, Marco, through his early decades and across the globe, as he discovers the prevalence of what he calls the foreign national experience.
“I hope this book inspires you to learn more about different countries, cultures, and people,” he said. We wish Luca the best of luck in his new venture and are so proud of our Barry grad!