MDC student receives award for her civic leadership
.jpeg "Fiorenza Herrera Diaz, a sophomore at Miami Dade College, was named a Campus Compact 2019 Newman Civic Fellow for her dedication to finding solutions to challenges facing communities across the country.")
Miami Dade College named Fiorenza Herrera Diaz a Campus Compact 2019 Newman Civic Fellow for her dedication to finding solutions to challenges facing communities. Campus Compact is a Boston-based organization that awards the fellowships to students who demonstrate strong leadership skills and have an interest in solving public issues.
The fellowship is for one year. The program is available only to students who attend Campus Compact member institutions.
Herrera Diaz, a sophomore, has a 4.0 GPA and has led several civic activities, including organizing voter registration drives as an Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere Ambassador. She was president of the Changemaking Ambassador Council and attended the 2018 Clinton Global Initiative University.
Herrera Diaz graduates in May and plans to transfer to Georgetown University and major in international economics or international development. She hopes to work for the United Nations or The World Bank.
“In her work as a student leader at MDC, Fiorenza has inspired and engaged others and has proven that she has not only the motivation but also the potential for effective and long-term civic engagement,” said Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College. “She represents the best of the best of this new generation of up and coming civic leaders that our nation so desperately needs.”
Coral Reef, Palmetto high students top Fairchild Challenge
High school seniors from Coral Reef High School and Palmetto High School recently ranked highest in the 2019 Fairchild Challenge, an award-winning environmental education outreach program held at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables.
As part of the challenge, students from 22 Miami-Dade County high schools debated each other. The debate topics included installing solar panels in residential areas, repealing the Endangered Species Act, and requiring states to ban single-use plastics. In the final round, students debated the pros and cons of the 14-mile expansion of State Road 836.
The first-place winners were Austin Cerber and Mark Yeo of Palmetto High School and the second-place team was comprised of Nicole Marino and Kristin Benn of Coral Reef High School.
Ransom Everglades School
Several students from Ransom Everglades School were inducted into the third class of Dan Leslie Bowden Fellows in the Humanities and will receive grants to support their summer humanitarian projects. Dan Leslie Bowden was a longtime Ransom English teacher and adviser, working at the school for 63 years.
In 2016, the school established the fellowship program to give students the chance to participate in advanced summer classes and learn about humanities. The 2019 Class of Bowden Fellows are : Olivia Byrd, Mia Williamson, Jolie Dreiling, Diego Duckenfield-Lopez, Becca Fisher, Mia Landman, Kate Menninger, Sofia Mora, Charith Reddy, and Zoe San Martin.
“We are extremely excited about our 2019 Bowden fellows,” said John King Jr., associate head of school. “Their proposals demonstrate great creativity, thoughtfulness and the desire to passionately pursue what makes us human. We expect this year’s fellows to conduct meaningful work in their chosen areas of study and share what they have learned with the Ransom Everglades community in the fall.”