Congratulations to Coral Reef Senior High School’s Silver Knight winner, Anderson Leal in the Drama category. Anderson will attend Loyola University New Orleans in the fall. In addition, a very special thank you to Mrs. Kristin Ortiz, Silver Knight Coordinator.

Nominees from all Miami-Dade schools – public, private, and charter are interviewed by a panel of independent judges. Names are not revealed until the Silver Knight Awards ceremony. Each nominee is introduced and receives a certificate. Silver Knights receive $2,000, a Silver Knight statue and a medallion presented by American Airlines. The cash awards are made possible in part by the generous support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Photo of Silver Knight Winner, Anderson Leal

Photo: Reese Ecklund

Adrian Perez

May 16, 2017 – Miami, Florida – Congratulations to Coral Reef Senior High School’s graduating senior, Adrian Perez, as he was nominated by Ms. Gloria Martin, Guidance Counselor for the Legal and Public Affairs Academy and school personnel to receive the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations (KFHA) Operation Turnaround 2017 Scholarship. KFHA celebrates the success of students who employ winning strategies in their lives that place them on a pathway to academic and social success.  They provide awards, events, mentoring services, college financial-planning information and scholarships to deserving students from the greater Kendall area.

Adrian will attend Miami Dade College in the Fall and plans to major in Business Administration. Adrian was selected because he has exhibited the qualities of resiliency and perseverance through extremely challenging circumstances.  Honoring his father’s dying wish to have his son sent to the United States, to have the opportunity for a better life, Adrian’s mother sent him at age six to Miami, to live with relatives he never met.  Not only was this a new country – with a new family, but he was mourning the loss of his father and missing his mother.  It took time to learn English and adapt to his new surroundings; which did not occur without missteps along the way.  However, with the help of caring teachers and administrators, over time Adrian began to make the adjustment.  He is dependable, respectful, trustworthy, and has performed academically while maintaining a part-time job.  He never complains and the result is that through establishing goals and visions and sheer hard work, he will be the first in his family to graduate from high school. In addition, his mother has not been able to travel to the United States to see her son, and will likely not attend his graduation.

Since 1983, the Kendall Federation Operation Turnaround Scholarship Initiative has sponsored the Operation Turnaround Awards Students’ Luncheon held at Fire Tower.  As a Miami-Dade Public Schools “Dade Partner,” Operation Turnaround honors students from over 43 public schools within the greater Kendall Community every year.

Operation Turnaround is run with a 100% volunteer staff.  High school honorees, plus scholarships and grants for graduating seniors who are headed for college or other post-secondary institutions.

In addition to the scholarship, Adrian received a laptop computer, an internship and a job with Hotwire Communications.  Hotwire Communications is one of the nation’s leading fiber optics telecommunications providers specializing in multi-family communities. Hotwire Communications employs cutting-edge fiber-to-the-home technology in which fiber optic cable serves as the backbone for all of the community’s communications services. Because of this brand-new communication infrastructure, residents at every community they service will enjoy the benefits of a completely upgraded system.

Congratulations to The 2017 Hubert O. Sibley 4 Year Florida Prepaid University Tuition Scholarship Winners, their academy, and the university they will be attending: Carlos O. Concepcion – Health Sciences; – Florida International University Amanda Grullon – Legal and Public Affairs – University of Central Florida; Brandon Rojas – Business and Finance – Florida International University; and Dianne Miranda – Visual & Performing Arts – Chorus – Florida International University.

As an educational Credit Union, they are proud to assist members by sending some of them to college. The education they receive helps them embark on their chosen profession and provides them with tools they can use throughout life.

To be eligible, seniors or their parent/legal guardian must have had a South Florida Educational Federal Credit Union (SFEFCU) account for at least one year prior to completing the scholarship application. Also, the student applicant must have a SFEFCU primary savings account (a savings account in their own name) by the application deadline.

Photo left to right: Dianne Miranda, Brandon Rojas, and Carlos Concepcion

• Samantha Smith, Visual & Performing Arts – Wrestling – Lindenwood University – Belville, Illinois
• Montana Ligman, Visual & Performing Arts -Soccer- University of Rhode Island, South Kingstown, Rhode Island
• Brent Holcombe, Agriscience – Basketball – Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
• Chloe Bedard Khalid, International Baccalaureate – Swimming – Northeastern, Boston, Massachusetts
• Abigail Chai-Onn, Visual & Performing Arts – Golf – Sienna College, Loudonville, New York
• Nicholas Korovich, Health Sciences – Baseball – Stratford College, Danville, Virginia
• Natasha Dacosta, Visual & Performing Arts -Volleyball – Florida National University, Hialeah, Florida

The NCAA manages the daily operations of the National Letter of Intent (NLI) program while the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) provides governance oversight of the program. Started in 1964 with seven conferences and eight independent institutions, the program now includes 650 Division I and Division II participating institutions.

The NLI is a voluntary program with regard to both institutions and student-athletes. No prospective student-athlete or parent is required to sign the NLI and no institution is required to join the program.

The NLI is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an NLI member institution.

• A prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the institution full-time for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters).
• The institution agrees to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters).

The penalty for not fulfilling the NLI agreement: A student-athlete has to serve one year in residence (full-time, two semesters or three quarters) at the next NLI member institution and lose one season of competition in all sports.

An important provision of the NLI program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs the NLI. This prohibition requires member institutions to cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once an NLI is signed with another institution.

Photo attached – left to right: Samantha Smith, Montana Ligman, Brent Holcombe, Nicholas Korovich, and Natasha Dacosta.  Not pictured: Chloe Bedard Khalid and Abigail Chai-Onn

Salute to Education, Inc., established in 1994, is a non-profit organization funded through dealership contributions and corporate support from Ford Motor Company. In addition, the program receives support from a Scholarship Committee composed of Ford and Lincoln dealers and business, educational and civic leaders who take time out of their schedules to judge the scholarship applications.  Community volunteer participation has been an integral part of the campaign’s success.

Congratulations to Juan Garcia  and Anderson Leal as they each received the scholarship is in the amount of $1,000 designated only for tuition and other educational at the college/university they will be attending. Juan will be attending the University of Florida and Anderson will be attending Loyola University – New Orleans.

Scholarship applications are judged based on the following criteria: Community Involvement, Academic Achievement, Demonstrated Leadership, Quality of Character, Life Goals & Interests, Obstacles Overcome, and Meaningful Objectives Achieved.  A special thank you to Ms. Lou Gillman, CAP Advisor at Coral Reef Senior High School as she announced Juan and Anderson, their category and the respective academy – Anderson Leal – ARTS: Performing Arts and Visual Arts  – Drama and Juan Garcia, SCIENCES: Natural Science – International Baccalaureate.

National Medalists represent the top I % of submissions to the 2017 Scholastic Awards. This year students submitted 18,800 works of art and writing. About 17,000 submissions received Gold Keys – the top honor at the regional level. Only 2,740 Medals were awarded at the national level!

Hundreds of thousands of young people have been recognized through the Awards since the program began in 1923. Among t hem are some of America’s most respected artistic and literary talents.  Richard Avedon, Truman Capote, Lena Dunham. Bernard Malamud, Joyce Maynard, Joyce Carol Oates, Philip Pearlstein, Sylvia Plath, Robert Redford, and Andy Warhol all earned Scholastic Awards as high school students.

All National Medalists are   invited to attend the annual National Events in New York City, with the National Ceremony taking place at Carnegie Hall and a series of student showcase events. Art work and writing from National Medalists will also be featured in the National Exhibition at Parsons School of Design at The New School and Pratt Institute’s Pratt Manhattan Gallery. The exhibition will be on display June 2 through June 12.

Founded in 1990 as the Florida Association of Public Service Students (FAPSS), the Florida Public Service Association, Inc. (FPSA) is a public service driven career technical student organization (CTSO) recognized by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE).

As a CTSO, FPSA provides coherent and rigorous content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant technical knowledge and skills needed to prepare for further Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education and careers in the criminal justice, law studies, firefighting, public administration and teaching assisting through career development events.

As an association, FPSA provide students with academic, general employability, problem-solving, technical and occupation-specific skills to meet the demands for a career in public service.

Photo below: Winners with Ms. Marinka Stuvel, Lead Teacher and Mr. Thomas Ennis,

William’s Dreamers Profile includes: “I am a senior at Coral Reef Senior High School in Miami, Florida. I am enrolled in the Gifted and Engineering Magnet programs. My many interests include Art, Engineering and African Studies. My dream is to become a film director, screenwriter, producer, and publish my own line of comic books featuring Black superheroes. I am the founder of the Pre-Engineering Society 4 Youth web family on Facebook. I hold to the belief that creating more art will lead to the development of young leaders.”

Photo: William Gilmore

The Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition showcases select artwork created by middle school and high school students from the United States, Canada, U.S. Territories, and U.S. – sponsored schools abroad.  Entry materials reach 12 million students in 99% of America’s schools and attract more than 250,000 entries each year.  Miami-Dade County Public Schools is the regional sponsor of The Awards.  At the conclusion of the Miami-Dade County Regional Exposition, one of 81 across the country, top award-winning artworks are forwarded to the national program in New York City.  Each work is reviewed by a panel of art professionals for originality, technical skill and the emergence of personal voice or vision.  National awardees are honored at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City.  Award-winning artwork is installed in galleries in New York, and at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. adjacent to the White House.

Participants, supported by their visual arts teachers and other community mentors, create and submit their best works of art. This year the jurors reviewed approximately 2000 individual artwork over four days. Coral Reef Senior High School is pleased to announce the following recipients awards and their categories:

Gold Key Awards Artists: Nuria Dolphin (Art Portfolio) and Samantha Smith (Art Portfolio).  These artists were presented with a gold key pin and a certificate on the regional level.  Their artworks are forwarded to New York City for national judging works.

Silver Key Award Artists: Leira Padron (Drawing & Illustration) and Brianna Marshall (Printmaking).  These artists are presented the silver key pin and a certificate on the regional level.

The following students were recognized as Honorable Mention: Eva Bibas (Digital Art); Marissa Diaz (Painting); Alyssa Goosby (Printmaking); Leira Padron (Drawing & Illustration); and Caitlyn Ridgeway (Drawing & Illustration); and Gabriella Torres (Painting).

The Awards have fostered creativity and talent and feature a notable list of alumni recipients including: Richard Avedon, Mel Bochner, Truman Capote, Frances Farmer, Red Grooms, Stephen King, Bernard Malamud, Joyce Maynard, Duane Michals, Joyce Carol Oates, Philip Pearlstein, Robert Redford and Andy Warhol.

Photo attached left to right: Mr. Thomas Ennis, Principal; Leira Padron, Eva Bibas, Marissa Diaz, Caitlyn Ridgeway, Brianna Marshall, Gabriella Torres, Samantha Smith, Alyssa Goosby, and Nuria Dolphin.