Among Jane McDonough's many roles -- high-school senior, debate-team captain, class president, Homecoming queen -- it was another talent that led her to bring art to students whose school could not afford it.

Her project, Art Smarts, took high-school volunteers armed with boxes of crayons, scissors and glue to Toussaint Louverture Elementary in Little Haiti. They made Valentines, molded clay sculptures and painted on white sheets of paper taped to the bottom of desks, like Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel.

''My school gave me all these opportunities,'' said Jane, a Miami Country Day School student who dreams of working one day in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. ``I want to make sure others get them, too. Art is for everyone.''

Jane was one of 15 winners and 45 honorable mentions from Miami-Dade honored at the Silver Knight Awards.

The same number of teens from Broward were also honored at Tuesday night's ceremony at the James L. Knight Center.

''We're here to honor you, the seniors who go above and beyond, making a tremendous impact on our communities,'' said David Landsberg, publisher and president of the Miami Herald Media Company.

STANDOUT STUDENTS

The awards, presented by The Miami Herald since 1959 in Miami-Dade and 1984 in Broward, celebrate South Florida standouts in 15 categories, from vocational-technical to new media to journalism to art, which Jane won.

Omar Cancio, the winner in general scholarship, spent his free time dancing tango at Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and serving as defense attorney for his peers in Miami-Dade County's teen court. That was while pursuing the international baccalaureate at Coral Gables Senior High, where he set a grade-point average record. He now heads to Harvard.

A pair of best friends from Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High -- both in Miami only a few years -- won separately for some of their joint work designing online math placement tests in five different languages for foreign students and creating a website with videos teaching math lessons using music concepts.

Andre Shomorony, who received the Silver Knight in mathematics, gave a big hug backstage to Luis Larco after he won in the new media category. When Luis moved to Miami four years ago, Andre had just arrived from Brazil.

They bonded over few words.

Said Luis: ``He knew some Spanish.''

''And music,'' Andre added. ``Mostly, that was the connecting language.''

PERSONAL CHALLENGES

Other Class of 2009 Silver Knights set their sights on helping people in their neighborhoods and beyond -- in spite of some daunting personal challenges.

Ky'Eisha Penn, who once lived in shelters with her epileptic mother, won in social science for mentoring kids with the Magic City Children's Zone to keep children away from violence. The Miami Northwestern Senior High student also formed a group called Sheltered, Not Shattered to raise awareness about domestic violence.

'When I was there, there was no one coming out to tell me, `You can do anything, this is just a stumbling block,' '' said Ky'Eisha, who plans to become a nurse.

At Miami Palmetto Senior High, Serge Charles, the Silver Knight winner in business, collected 100 boxes of donations and supplies for hurricane victims in Haiti, the country his mother fled after Serge's father died when the boy was 6.

With his mother working in Haiti during the week and traveling to Miami on weekends, Serge often cared for the household -- and for an elderly neighbor and her pets -- while working full-time at Marriott International and taking classes at Miami Dade College.

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