Congrats Silver Knight winners and nominees. You’re the tops!| Editorial
With kids like these, our future is in good hands.
We congratulate the nominees and winners honored at the first-ever virtual ceremony of the 62nd Silver Knight Awards Thursday night, sponsored by the Miami Herald/ el Nuevo Herald, the Knight Foundation and American Airlines.
The class of 2020 was cheated out of the annual fanfare of being a high school senior, with no live graduation ceremonies and no big Silver Knight recognition with production values worthy of Broadway.
But nothing can detract from the fact that these Miami-Dade and Broward students excelled academically and in community service.
Here are some of the amazing projects that the winners created win their place as Silver Knight winners in 15 categories:
√ Monica Lagrange, a Miami-Dade winner in the Art category from Doral Academy Preparatory School, helped start the Bags for Mats project, turning plastic grocery bags into sleeping mats for the homeless. They crocheted 3,000 bags into more than 20 mats.
√ Gabriel Perez, another Miami-Dade winner from Hialeah Gardens Senior High, created a Jazz Combo that performs and donates its proceeds to students who can’t afford to be in their school’s band program. The combo performed at celebrations and community events, and recorded an album “Music Saves Lives: A Mental Health Project.” Proceeds were donated to Mind & Melody, a Miami nonprofit that uses music to help stimulate residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
√ Another Miami-Dade winner, Sasha Farid, of the School for Advanced Studies - MDC, Homestead Campus, used drama therapy to help special needs preschoolers at Air Base K-8 express their emotions, improve listening skills and penmanship. In addition, she and a group of mentors worked with middle school drama students to help them tell their stories, set goals and problem solve.
√ A Broward winner, Gabriela Molina, of the College Academy at Broward College - Central Campus, grew up in Fort Lauderdale and fell in love with Florida’s ecology, from wetlands to riverbeds. The student is especially passionate about preserving coral reefs, joining the Urban Farming Institute’s Reef Ranger Project and working with Nova Southeastern University marine biologists to recruit students to become environmental leaders.
√ Broward winner Alexandra O’Dowd, of Saint Thomas Aquinas High School led, designed and developed The Greenhouse Project, the school’s first hydroponic tower garden, named Fresh STArt Garden. The self-irrigating, sustainable garden educates middle and high school students about climate change and eco-farming. They donate the garden’s vegetables and herbs to local food pantries and church parishes. The winner is president of the STEM Club, leading more than 200 members in science-related service-learning projects, fundraisers and competitions.
Well, done seniors.
