Gulliver student wins President’s Volunteer Service Award for work with Nicklaus Children’s

Alessandra Maggioni of Gulliver Preparatory School was awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award for her work with Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami.

The award recognizes people, of all ages, who have volunteered to serve their community or country and is granted by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program.

Alessandra was diagnosed with scoliosis at 10-years-old, causing her to give up her dream of being a professional tennis player. Four years later, she had the posterior spinal fusion surgery to reconstruct her back with two metal rods and 26 screws. Although her movement is limited, she can be physically active.

Alessandra’s surgery motivated her to help others, and she is now an ambassador of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and speaker that helps to raise funds for children with severe cases of scoliosis. She also created a device that eases the pain of patients who’ve recently had the fusion surgery.

Alaz Sengul and Kelly Ann Cosentino were also recognized during the ceremony and received a certificate of merit for their community service efforts.

2017 Eig-Watson scholarship winners

The Miami Dade College Foundation and Eig-Watson School of Aviation will honor Reynaldo Aguero, Christopher Bazaka, Edward Hoyos, Sebastian Metral, Carlos Roman and Jorge Sanchez as winners of the 2017 Saul and Lois Eig Watson Scholarship during an upcoming awards luncheon.

The $8,000 scholarship was started in 1988 by Lois Eig in honor of her husband and aims to award students seeking careers in commercial aviation. Students must have at least 12 Miami Dade College credits, be a United States citizen, have a 3.0 GPA and a pilot’s certificate or interest in professional pilot technology.

For information, call Alyssa Zamora at 305-237-3331 or email her at azamora@mdc.edu.

Dunkin’ Donuts $1,000 Scholarship

Dunkin’ Donuts is now accepting applications for its 2017 Dunkin’ Donuts South and Southwest Florida Scholarship Program.

The $1,000 scholarship is open to high school students in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach Treasure Coast, Fort Meyers, and Naples. To qualify, students must plan to enroll as full-time students at a two- or four-year college, university or vocational school for the 2017-18 school year and have a minimum 3.5 GPA.

Applications are due April 30. For information or to apply, visit https://www.scholarsapply.org/ddonuts-fl.

Howard Drive Elementary School

Fifth-grade students at Howard Drive Elementary School participated in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program’s essay contest and were recognized during the program’s graduation ceremony.

Jayesh Agarwal, Alessandra Diaz, Felix Torres, Cameron Gussin and Alejandro Morales wrote winning essays about what they learned during the DARE program. Mark Rowe was the overall winner, and his essay was read by his teacher, Susan Artrington, during the ceremony with Miami-Dade County School Board chairman Lawrence Feldman, Major Gadyaces Serralta, Lt. Maria Guerra, and Officer Wendy Yanes of the Miami-Dade County Police Department.

The instructors of this year’s DARE Program were Yanes and Palmetto Bay Police Officer Peter Judge.

Ford Motor Co. STEAM Competition

Michelle Fernandez of Girl Scouts Troop 56, in Homestead, was the winner of the Junior Best Design in Ford Motor Co.’s STEAM Competition.

For the first time, Ford teamed up with four regional Girl Scout councils to offer brownies and juniors a Pinewood Derby race. Participants had to create their pinewood car and race them; the competition was created to increase the science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics skills of students.

Michelle was invited to represent the Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida on the “Today” show last month and received a trophy.

Ransom Everglades School

Nineteen students from the Best Buddies chapter at Ransom Everglades School participated in the Best Buddies Friendship Walk on Saturday in downtown Miami.

The walk was created to support including people with disabilities and students raised $1,366 for the cause. Participants included Skylar Scharer, Ale De La Fuente, Julia Bernstein, Jessica Lee, Vanessa Cilloniz, Ilija Wan-Simm, Yasmina Haddad, Cornelia Ehlebracht, Nikki Jagid, André Glascock, and Sean Becker.

More than 2,200 people attended the Friendship Walk and the event raised $500,000 in total donations, according to Best Buddies.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and The Foundation for New Education Initiatives will host the second 5K Challenge to benefit Miami-Dade County’s public schools.

The race will be on April 1 at 7 a.m. to noon at Museum Park, 1075 Biscayne Blvd., in Miami. The entry fee is $30 per adult plus a $2.64 registration fee, and $10 per student plus a $1.54 registration fee. Registration deadline is March 24. To register, visit http://bit.ly/2nq7Eot or call 305-995-7317 for information.

This story was originally published March 14, 2017 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Gulliver student wins President’s Volunteer Service Award for work with Nicklaus Children’s."