Catholic schools amass 10 Silver Knights, 13 honorable mentions

By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic

MIAMI |St. Thomas Aquinas High School had five winners and Christopher Columbus High had four in this year’s Silver Knight Awards sponsored by The Miami Herald.

St. Brendan High School added one more winner, and six other high schools also had honorable mentions, a total that surpasses, in depth and breadth, those of previous years.

The annual awards recognize “the cream of the crop” of the high school graduating classes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Students who are nominated for Silver Knights must demonstrate excellence in one of 15 academic categories along with exemplary community service.

The awards were presented May 18 during a joint ceremony at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. Winners receive $2,000, a Silver Knight statue and a medallion. Runners-up receive $500 and an engraved plaque. The prizes are sponsored by American Airlines and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Following are this year’s winners with brief summaries of their achievements. These summaries are taken verbatim from The Miami Herald’s report on the awards ceremony.

Broward

Photographer:

Nicole de Brigard, St. Thomas Aquinas High School

Athletics: Nicole de Brigard, St. Thomas Aquinas

As president of her Future Business Leaders of America chapter, Nicole De Brigard focuses on early-morning balloon sales that raise funds for students on financial aid. She initiated coffee sales, which raise funds for tuition, books, clothing and meals for students.

Nicole is Student Council vice president, and a member of the National Honor Society and the National English Honor Society. She coordinates food collections at the St. Vincent de Paul shelter, helps coordinate a 5K run for Wings for Warriors and serves as a senior Girl Scout ambassador. She is certified as a Eucharistic Minister through the Archdiocese of Miami, is a Wendy’s Heisman Award winner and is a member of the varsity Cross Country Team.

Photographer:

Kelly Litts, St. Thomas Aquinas High School

General Scholarship: Kelly Litts, St. Thomas Aquinas

Hearing words of prejudice against her brother and others with disabilities, from a person she had previously admired, changed the life course of Kelly Litts. In ninth grade, she created “Drawn Together” at the Ann Storck Center for children with disabilities, and at Jack and Jill Children’s Center for youth in low-income homes.

Kelly is president of the National Honor Society and National Latin Honor Society. She is in Quill and Scroll, Mu Alpha Theta, and the National Technical Honor Society. She is a National Merit Semifinalist and an AP Scholar with Distinction. She won First Place in the Broward County Science Fair and went on to be a Florida State Science and Engineering Fair Finalist for her project to test for E. coli-contaminated water. She won the Sky’s the Limit national short story competition and has won the magna cum laude National Latin Exam three years in a row.

Photographer:

Sydney Boyd, St. Thomas Aquinas High School

Social Science: Sydney Boyd, St. Thomas Aquinas

When Sydney Boyd witnessed frustration on the faces of children in after-school care at Westwood Heights Elementary School, she decided to start Operation Take-Off. Every Monday and Friday afternoon she shares her love of history, geography and different cultures to the aftercare students. Sydney’s parents instilled in her a love of geography, and when her father died, she found she could keep his memory alive by sharing poetry, music, cooking, yoga and friendship.

An AP Scholar, she helped start Aquinas Kindness club to visit middle school girls and teach conflict resolution. She is president of the French National Honor Society and has placed top five in more than five forensics speech and debate tournaments. At Women in Politics, she worked with U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson in Washington, D.C., on her campaign “Bring Back Our Girls.’’

Photographer:

Amber Cartier, St. Thomas Aquinas High School

Vocational Technical: Amber Cartier, St. Thomas Aquinas

The abandoned children living in shelters who benefit from Amber Cartier’s art supply program have helped her heal as much as she has helped them. In middle school, as a competitive dancer, Amber was bullied and physically beaten so badly that she could no longer dance. She took an art class and that became her new passion. Amber founded “Creative Heart” while in ninth grade and she provides art supplies and instruction to abused children.

She is head of her school’s film crew, live streaming football games and other events. She plays nine musical instruments and is the only female Tuba Section Leader that St. Thomas has had. Though she struggles with auditory and visual dyslexia, Amber received the AP Scholar Award and is in the National Honor Society, National Technology Honor Society and National Art Honor Society.

Photographer:

Kristen Smalling, St. Thomas Aquinas High School

World Languages: Kristen Smalling, St. Thomas Aquinas

As a little girl, Kristen Smalling remembers listening to her great-grandmother speaking French and wishing she could understand what she was saying. When she got to high school, she enrolled in French classes. She is now taking an advanced placement French Language and Culture class and has maintained an A average. She also serves as the historian for the school’s French Honor Society.

In her spare time, Smalling dedicated time to Karriers for Kidz, an organization she founded to provide car seats for parents who can’t afford them. She has raised over $5,000 and bought dozens of seats to donate to local hospitals.

She has volunteered hundreds of hours to various organizations and has managed to maintain a heavy course load. She is also a member of the International Thespian Honor Society, competes in yearly thespian festivals and won three excellence awards.

Honorable mentions

Athletics: Jordan Trumbore, Cardinal Gibbons

Business: Nicholas Napoli, St. Thomas Aquinas

Journalism: Ryan Douglas, St. Thomas Aquinas; Osmar Coronel, Archbishop Edward McCarthy High

Speech: Joseph Kass, Cardinal Gibbons; Marlana Armstrong, St. Thomas Aquinas

Miami-Dade

Photographer:

Cesar Santalo, Christopher Columbus High School

Art: Cesar Santalo, Columbus

When a fire burned down his home in fourth grade, Cesar Santalo drew and drew and discovered the healing power of art. After playing basketball all his life but not making the team his sophomore year, he founded “Young Explorers of Art” to bring students together to share art around them in museums and galleries.

He also started playing golf and he volunteered with The First Tee Miami to help young players learn the game and life skills. An AP and Honors student, he is founder and president of the Art Honor Society and a campus ministry leader. He volunteers for Liga Contra el Cancer and is active in Squires service club, Student Council and the roller hockey team.

Photographer:

William Reis, Christopher Columbus High School

Athletics: William Reis, Columbus

A 200-page research thesis for the Mas Scholar program became the foundation of PlaySmart, StaySmart, founded by William Reis, president and CEO of the nonprofit. The group educates student athletes and their parents about concussions. He has raised $40,000 and the organization partners with the University of Miami Concussion Program, the Florida High School Athletic Association and the University of Tampa. As a result of the group’s work, Florida student athletes must take a concussion education course.

He is an academic All-American and captain of the varsity lacrosse team. He is an AP Scholar with Distinction, a National Merit Scholar Semifinalist, and he received the Yale University National Student Leadership Conference Pre‐Law Studies Best Witness and Best Attorney awards.

Photographer:

Joshua Fonseca, Christopher Columbus High School

Business: Joshua Fonseca, Columbus

As a former foster teen removed from an abusive, drug-addicted mother, Joshua Fonseca found a way to heal himself by helping other foster students at His House Children’s Home. He also leads retreats through his school’s campus ministry program.

He is founder and president of “Investors of Tomorrow,” which he started after interning with TotalBank. He started “Hand It Down” to collect used uniforms for students who cannot afford them. He is president of the Science National Honors Society and volunteers through the National Honor Society.

Photographer:

Alejandrina Gonzalez-Reyes, St. Brendan High School

Digital & Interactive Media: Alejandrina Gonzalez-Reyes, St. Brendan

Believing education should be available for free to everyone is the quest of Alejandrina Gonzalez-Reyes. As a recent immigrant from Mexico, she came to the U.S. knowing little English and not a bit about programming. A field trip to a coding class got her started. By teaching herself, she developed the educational resources app Bozeman Science, which is part of the curriculum at schools from the Middle East to Asia.

She was an Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Scholar 2015. She was invited to Harvard University’s WECode National Conference and the Yahoo Mobile Developer Conference. She is an AP Scholar active in the National, Spanish and Business Honor Societies. As a triathlete, she has completed five Miami Marathons and placed first in the 2015 South Florida Triathlon.

Photographer:

Noah Lopez, Christopher Columbus High School

Speech: Noah Lopez, Columbus

Playing and winning at football was a thrill for Noah Lopez, especially when opponents saw the student covering them had a left arm that ended below the elbow. When a severe fracture of that arm ended sports activities in his freshman year, Noah poured his energy into speech and debate. He founded “Helping Hands” to assist disabled students so that they could participate in extracurricular events, with a focus on speech and debate.

He is a National Speech and Debate Association Academic All‐American and has been a winner, finalist or semifinalist at tournaments for Yale Invitational, University of Florida Blue Key and Nova Southeastern University. He recorded a perfect score in every round against students from around the world at the UC Berkeley California Invitational. He is in the National, Spanish and English Honor Societies and Rho Kappa Social Studies Honor Society. He will attend Johns Hopkins University.

Honorable mentions:

Art: Maria Mercado, St. Brendan

General Scholarship: Isabel Gonzalez, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy

Mathematics: Christina Cruz, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart

Music and Dance: Joseph Chica, Columbus

Science: James O’Connor, Columbus

Social science: Valeria Hansen, Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School

Speech: Michael Cairo, Belen Jesuit Prep.