Orlando Paz will be a graduate of the Class of 2018. He will be attending Hamilton College in Upstate New York thanks to earning a POSSE Scholarship. He’s been a Miami Lakes resident all his life and had attended Bob Graham K-8 Center and will now be graduating from Barbara Goleman Senior High School (BGHS). He is currently the Student Government Association’s (SGA) President, National Honor Society Vice-President and a member of Senior Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, BETA, Key Club and the Alzheimer’s Awareness Club. He currently has a weighted GPA of 4.3 and will be a graduate of the Capstone Program. He’s achieved 700 hours of community service which will be on-going to graduation.
Paz is elated to be given the opportunity through the POSSE Scholarship program; he’s very optimistic of the future and all he’s accomplished thus far. He states that in his wildest dreams he could’ve never imagined this honor and seeing where his life is going. In freshman year, he was simply a regular student taking regular courses and has grown to be a graduate of the Capstone Program with passing scores on Advanced Placement (AP) exams and earning a passing score on his research paper about “academic dishonesty” from College Board. Paz states that for him, this is a life-changing opportunity that’ll lead him on an incredible journey to become a successful man of tomorrow.
Valeria Donoso will be graduating along with fellow classmate Paz in June. She will be attending Davidson College in North Carolina starting in the fall of 2018 thanks to earning a POSSE Scholarship. She’s been a Miami Lakes resident all her life, and she also attended Bob Graham K-8 Center. She is currently the SGA Treasurer, the Mu-Alpha-Theta (Math Honor Society) President, BETA Vice-President, a member of the Alzheimer’s Awareness Club, National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society, Art Club, Latin Dance Club and was a two-year member of the BGHS’S Jewels Dance Team where she was part of the competition dance routines from the time she was a freshman. She currently has a weighted 4.9 GPA and approximately 850 hours of community service hours that will continue to be on-going until she graduates.
“This will be an amazing opportunity to attend a prestigious school with a group of individuals with a common mindset as a simple Miami girl like me.” Said Donoso.
The collective of BGHS are proud of these students and are excited to see what the future holds for them.