This year, she will return to one of the camps as a full counselor.

Some students were inspired to look beyond their own communities -- and even countries.

Ganavya Doraiswamy, the winner in social science, founded an organization called Project Nemili to bring healthcare and education, school supplies and other enrichment to the people of a village in southern India.

At first, the Cypress Bay High student funded the project with some of her own money from classes she taught in Indian languages, instruments, music and dance. Eventually she started a fundraising campaign to bring in more financial support.

North Broward Preparatory School student Brittany Young, the journalism winner, also looked abroad for a chance to help. She was inspired after visiting South Africa when she was 14.

She formed a charity, A Spring of Hope, to build wells to benefit underprivileged students in South Africa. The charity has raised more than $100,000.

''When I see a disadvantaged child, I only envision what this child can become and contribute to this world if only he or she had the opportunities,'' Brittany wrote in her application.

CREATED IN 1959

The Silver Knight awards were created in 1959 and expanded to Broward in 1984. The top prize for each winner is a $2,000 scholarship, a Silver Knight statuette, a medallion and one round-trip ticket from American Airlines.

Honorable mentions -- three in each category -- received a $500 scholarship and an engraved plaque.

This year, 348 students in Miami-Dade and 354 in Broward were nominated by their teachers for the awards. A panel of judges then chose the winners in each category.

The awards are sponsored by American Airlines, the Blank Family Foundation and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

In the past half century, 1,100 have been named Silver Knights. Winners have gone on to win Oscars, play in the Super Bowl and send rockets into space.

Quipped WFOR-CBS4 anchor Eliott Rodriguez, one of the event's hosts: ``American Idol has nothing on this group.''

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@