A lot has changed in 50 years, but not the quality of South Florida's Silver Knights.

The prestigious Silver Knight Awards -- bestowed on high school seniors who are standouts in their communities and classrooms -- reached its golden anniversary this year. The latest class of Miami-Dade County winners will be announced at a ceremony Tuesday night at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. The 15 Broward winners were announced last month.

In the past half-century, more than 16,000 students have been nominated and 1,100 have become Silver Knights. They include rocket scientists, corporate CEOs, diplomats, judges, doctors, musicians, artists and teachers.

This year, in an effort to reconnect past winners with new Silver Knights and their schools, The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald hosted a series of events for Silver Knight alumni. Miami-Dade County officials declared Tuesday Silver Knights Day.

Also on Tuesday, a group of past winners will gather for a luncheon downtown, featuring speakers Steve Reinemund, the retired chairman of the Board of PepsiCo and the 1966 Silver Knight winner in citizenship, and Ambassador Frances D. Cook, the first female head of post for the United States in the Middle East and the 1963 Silver Knight winner in Social Science.

Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, a 1982 Silver Knight in science, will deliver a video message from Seattle.

SHARED PRIDE

Many of the Silver Knight alumni will return to their old high schools to talk with students before attending Tuesday night's ceremony.

''The Silver Knights are a moment of great pride for us every year, but the opportunity to reunite winners from across 50 years has been especially incredible,'' said David Landsberg, president and publisher of The Miami Herald Media Co. ``To see the impact that the Silver Knight has had on the lives of the winners, and to see what they, in turn, have done with their lives, makes us enormously proud of the program, and of the people it has recognized.''

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation paid for the alumni events. The foundation also gave a $205,000 grant to allow Hands on Miami to set up a mentorship program and a speaking series with Silver Knights.

''After 50 years of the Silver Knight program producing community leaders, it's a logical evolution for Hands on Miami to bring these folks together in a meaningful way that will have a good impact on the community,'' said Pat Morris, president of the nonprofit Hands on Miami.

Since the program's first year, Silver Knight winners have embodied a special combination of intelligence and human spirit.

Edward Fleck won for citizenship in the inaugural year, 1959, when gas was 25 cents a gallon and a postage stamp cost four cents. At that time, there were 10 categories and each winner received $200 and a silver statuette. Among his fellow winners that year was Bill Conti, who went on to compose the Rocky soundtrack and win an Oscar and three Emmys.

Fleck said he has thought about his Silver Knight award to help get him through difficult periods in the past 50 years.

''I think there are times in everybody's lives when you wish things were going better than they are,'' said Fleck, 67, who spent 37 years as a special agent with the FBI. During his career, he investigated the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination, helped piece together airplane hijackings and caught bank robbers.

'When that happens, I try to step back and say, `I won the Silver Knight. I was one of the top students in a big city.' And that helps me put things in perspective,'' Fleck said.

Former Miami Herald publisher John S. Knight created the award program in Miami in 1959 to honor high school seniors who are luminaries in academics and community involvement.

The awards recognized only Miami-Dade County students until 1984, when a Broward County program was added. Silver Knight awards were given to Palm Beach County students from 1985 through 1990.

The program also grew to honor students in 15 categories -- the citizenship award was dropped in 1978, but categories such as Business and New Media were added. The prizes also grew. Tuesday night's winners will receive $2,000, a medal and a round-trip airplane ticket to anywhere in the United States. Three honorable mentions in each category each receive $500 and a plaque.

The awards are sponsored by American Airlines, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida and the Blank Family Foundation. Judges in a variety of South Florida professional fields consider applications, nominating letters and interviews with the students.

PREVIOUS WINNER

Judges selected Mei Li from Palmetto High as last year's Miami-Dade social science winner. In high school, Li used her knowledge of complex Chinese languages to help scientists at University of Miami's Diabetes Research Institute translate medical research for colleagues in Shanghai. She did this while maintaining a sky-high GPA and being named MVP of her school's badminton team.

Li just wrapped up her freshman year at Washington University in St. Louis, where she was accepted into a scholars program for pre-med students. She's spending her summer break back at the diabetes institute, cranking out some independent research.

Like Fleck, the 19-year-old Li said she looks back to her Silver Knight award to remind her what she can accomplish.

''It helps me remember that there is so much I can give to others,'' Li said. ``It's a reminder of what potential I have to give back.''

Fleck came to Miami for Tuesday's events, as did Ambassador Cook, the 1963 social science winner from South Dade High.

Cook, whose precedent-setting 32-year career with the U.S. Department of State took her around the world as a foreign service officer, consul general and ambassador, lives in Washington, D.C., but also comes often to visit her 94-year-old mother in Homestead.

Like Fleck, Li and other winners, Cook said this year's new class of Silver Knights should not stop doing whatever they did to earn the honor.

''Stay committed to the field where you won, because obviously you're a star,'' Cook said. ``Now you have to fulfill the component of give-back in your life. You have to show that you earned it.''

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

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.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@