Meet the 2022 Silver Knight winners

2022 AWARDS

One fell in love with the violin and turned that into a passion for advocating for the arts.

Another was so concerned about radioactive isotopes leaking into Biscayne Bay from the cooling cancels at FPL’s Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant that she embarked on a five-year quest to find a solution.

A third saw how his grandmother, who had dementia, was in the hospital amid COVID and couldn’t receive any visitors, nor could she work the hospital phone. He created a special device so his family could talk to her, connecting with her in the hours before she passed.

These are among the extraordinary accomplishments of the 30 high school seniors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties who won a Silver Knight Award Thursday evening as part of the 64th annual Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald program recognizing outstanding high school seniors. Another 90 were named Honorable Mentions for their achievements.

This year’s Silver Knights included 661 students who were nominated from 100 schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Each of the 30 Silver Knight winners will receive a $2,000 scholarship from the Herald Charities Foundation, a special medallion that symbolizes their accomplishments and the coveted Silver Knight statue.

They also will receive 25,000 American Advantage miles, good for one round trip in the continental United States, courtesy of American Airlines. All 90 seniors who were named Honorable Mentions will receive a plaque and a $500 scholarship from the Herald Charities Foundation.

The 2022 Silver Knight winners will join a long list of illustrious past Silver Knight winners. Previous winners include:

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who won the Silver Knight in Science in 1982 as a Palmetto High senior;

Bill Conti, the Oscar-winning composer who wrote the music for the “Rocky” and “Karate Kid’’ films, among others, won the Silver Knight in Music in 1959 as a North Miami High senior;

Frances Cook, a career Foreign Service officer who was the former U.S. ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman and the Consul General in Egypt, won the Silver Knight in Social Sciences in 1963, representing South Dade High.

Ted Hendricks, the former University of Miami star defensive end who played 15 seasons in the NFL before being inducted into the Hall of Fame, won the Silver Knight in Athletics as a Hialeah High senior in 1965.

So, without further ado, here are the 2022 Silver Knight winners and Honorable Mentions: