The Miami Herald's Silver Knight Program recognizes outstanding students who have maintained excellent grades and have unselfishly applied their special knowledge to their schools and communities.
Nominees from all schools will be interviewed by a panel of judges in late May, from which judges will select one Silver Knight and three honorable mentions in each of 15 categories. The Silver Knight will receive $2,000, a statue, and a medallion presented by American Airlines. The honorable mentions are presented $500 and an engraved plaque.
Silver Knight nominees from American Senior High School include:
Elibel Rincon is the nominee for art. Her project consisted of tutoring local elementary schools students because of her belief that ‘guiding and equipping the generations to come” will help ensure a better future.
Jonathan Spicer is the nominee for athletics. Spicer created the BAM (Basketball, Academics, and Music) program which assists students academically, and introduces them to basketball and piano. Spicer also connected with organizations to raise funds to furnish rooms in the Lewis Transitional Housing Project for foster children. Spicer also collected food and toiletries for those in Haiti through an event called Donations for Haiti held in his neighborhood. His final project consisted of aiding student athletes in obtaining volunteer personal training sessions over the course of three years.
Johandry Franco is the nominee for business. Franco has served his community through the SECME and FIRST community service groups at his school which has greatly impacted students and the community particularly in areas related to STEM.
Samantha Soto is the nominee for digital and interactive media. Soto conducted a school restoration project through the JROTC program at American. It not only improved the aesthetics of the school, but also unified the participants in a common cause. Soto has also participated in the Sumobots Club in which she programmed a robot that functioned autonomously.
Marla Martinez is the nominee for the drama category. Martinez took part in the SHAPE organization which assists children with disabilities while also fundraising for several causes including for clubs and sports in financial need at American Senior High School. Martinez is her school's Drama club president and has participated in multiple productions.
Loren Hernandez is the nominee for the general scholarship. Hernandez volunteered at IC Quality Health Corp. and provided warmth and unique personality to the home health and hospice patients of the institution and their families. Hernandez's academic and extracurricular success have made her a well-rounded student.
Ivana Montoya is the nominee for journalism. For nearly a year, Montoya volunteered at Chung's Tae Kwan Do where she assisted in child care and grew personally as a result of the differences in culture and age of those she volunteered for and the children she watched over.
Hoang Bui is the nominee for mathematics. Bui's project centered on tutoring before and after school with the goal to better students in mathematics by restoring and reinforcing the basic foundations of math that have been lost over the years of misuse and misunderstanding as well as administering quizzes and tests. Those who attended Bui's tutoring program had higher scores in comparison to their classmates and their previous baseline test. The impact created a positive school atmosphere and aided in the school's overall grade.
Juan Perez is the nominee for music and dance. Perez acted as a music mentor for the students at Country Club Middle School during the annual band camp that American holds at the school every summer. Perez said that “students who attend this camp enter as students and exit as musicians.” Many of the students cannot afford private lessons which makes the mentoring program a great investment in the artistic lives of young children.
Tristan Enriquez is the nominee for science. Enriquez considers his time building a robot with his team in the school's robotic club, FIRST, created the greatest impact for his community. Enriquez has attended multiple competitions and is certified in the 3D CAD design program Autodesk Inventor. He has also held the positions of vice president and president for the school's SECME club.
Tyree Lewis is the nominee for vocational technical. Of Lewis' service endeavors, he considers his work in the National Honor Society to be the one of greatest impact at his school. The weekly effort of volunteering within the organization included tutoring peers in multiple facets of education, increasing performances of students and assisting in the school's overall grade.
Melanie Perez has been nominated for foreign languages. Perez has worked with T.I.M.E. International and visited various countries through this organization. Perez has since taught English classes in places like Mongolia, and wishes to further expand her exploration in languages beginning with her studies in portuguese. Perez intends to pursue Doctors Without Borders which will be greatly aided by her experiences with different languages.