Archdiocesan high school graduates earn seven Silver Knights, 14 honorable mentions

By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic

MIAMI| Graduating seniors from Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Miami earned seven Silver Knights and 14 honorable mentions at the 67th annual Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald Silver Knight Awards, held May 14, 2025, at the James L. Knight Center in Miami.

Since 1959, the Silver Knights have recognized students for excellence in academics and outstanding community service. Fueled by creativity, talent, and a desire to help, this year’s winners have advocated for causes, created projects, nonprofits and small businesses with missions aimed at helping those facing challenges such as hunger, poverty, cancer, and more.

This year, St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale led the way with three winners and five honorable mentions, followed by Christopher Columbus High School in Miami with three winners and two honorable mentions, and Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Coconut Grove with one winner.

Other Catholic high schools with students who earned honorable mentions include Archbishop Edward McCarthy in Southwest Ranches with three; Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami with one, Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale with two; and Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami with one.

In total, 935 students from charter, public and private schools were nominated this year, representing 90 schools in Miami-Dade, 33 schools in Broward, and three schools in Monroe. A total of 30 winners were selected—15 each in Miami-Dade and Broward—with 90 other students named honorable mentions.

Silver Knights are awarded in 15 high school disciplines: art, athletics, business, digital and interactive media, drama, English and literature, general scholarship, journalism, mathematics, music and dance, science, social science, speech, vocational technical, and world languages. Two winners are selected in each discipline, one from Miami Dade and one from Broward.

Each Silver Knight winner receives a $2,000 scholarship from the Herald Charities Foundation, a medallion and a Silver Knight statue. Winners also receive 25,000 miles from AAdvantage miles, courtesy of American Airlines, valid for one round-trip flight ticket in the continental U.S.

Honorable mentions receive an engraved plaque and a $500 scholarship made possible in part by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The following are brief summaries of the 2025 winners’ achievements (in alphabetical order by category), followed by the names of the honorable mentions. The summaries are taken from the Miami Herald’s Silver Knight site (https://n9.cl/9wh78).

 

WINNERS

Athletics: Arianna Allen, St. Thomas Aquinas

Arianna took notice of Miami’s growing homeless population and took action. She founded ServPort, a nonprofit that has served hot meals to more than 4,000 people living on the streets, mostly under the I-95-South exit ramp in downtown Miami. With support from her mother and brother, she has prepped, cooked and distributed 70-100 hot meals at a time at more than 40 food distribution events, in addition to coordinating blanket, clothing and toiletry drives. She also optained permits from the city of Miami to host the feedings.

“I became involved by paying attention to what people in my community were struggling with the most and applying what I learned to helping the homeless communities in downtown Miami,” she said.

Her love for service is matched by her speed on the track. She’s a national champion in both the 400 meters and 400-meter hurdles.

 

Business: Isabella Duarte-Crespo, Carrollton

Diagnosed with spina bifida, Isabella had a problem and created a company to solve it.

In 2019, she founded Hidden Innovations in Disguise, a business that makes underwear with private pockets to carry personal items for young people with disabilities. The business has clearly met a need; its annual sales growth is 15 percent. The revenue growth has enabled Isabella to give 50 percent of Hidden Innovation’s net profits back to the community.

Isabella gained a platform to speak about issues affecting young people with disabilities, including advocating for adaptable clothing at a fashion panel in New York.

“My skills as a businesswoman have grown into skills I utilize in my daily life,” she said. “Learning the intricacies of the business world empowered me to evolve by leaning further into advocacy and service for those with disabilities.”

 

Digital & Interactive Media: Jason Fernandez, Columbus

Jason applied his skills in editing, graphic design and storytelling to help produce the documentary, “Live Like Bella: A Story of Faith, Hope and Love.” The 30-minute film tells the story of Bella Rodriguez-Torres, the 10-year-old Miami girl who died from a rare form of cancer, but had defied the odds and regained her ability to walk, run and jump. After her death, her family created Live Like Bella, a foundation that has funded more than 66 clinical trials and provided $6.5 million to families with children living with cancer. Jason’s film, on Amazon Prime Video, donates all proceeds to the foundation.

“It was an honor to help share Bella’s story and support a foundation that offers hope and relief to families battling childhood cancer,” Jason said.

 

 

Drama: Alexander Naranjo-Sanchez, Columbus

As the founder of ICANUCAN, Alexander uses the power of theater to empower children with special needs. Through a partnership with Greater Heights Academy, he teaches acting classes and leads rehearsals twice a week. He designed a curriculum that includes warm-ups, vocal practice and dance choreography, while allowing children the freedom to create their own moves.

He also wrote “Leo’s First Day,” an original script featuring songs the children selected from their favorite movies, including “Aladdin” and “Toy Story.” The program teaches the young thespians about teamwork, discipline and creative problem-solving.

“Seeing the joy and growth in these children has been the most rewarding aspect of my work,” Alexander said.

 

Music & Dance: Sophia Oganezov, St. Thomas Aquinas

An accomplished violinist, Sophia founded the Strings Ensemble, bringing together student musicians at St. Thomas and her former middle school so they could perform in concerts together.

Sophia also launched the nonprofit Music of Tomorrow to teach others how to play an instrument. She built a website, produced music instructional videos for a YouTube channel she created, started a GoFundMe page and developed “Lesson in a Box” to help beginners learn how to play.

One of the highlights: Delivering 24 recorders, 12 instructional booklets and 24 fliers with links to the video music lessons she created to the Broward Juvenile Detention Center. As she was leaving, one of the people at the center locked eyes with her, nodded her head and thanked her.

“I wanted to create an organization that would allow individuals to experience the magic and importance of music education,” Sophia said.

 

Science: Laura Aluka, St. Thomas Aquinas

Laura’s first trip to her father’s homeland, Togo, on Africa’s west coast, opened her eyes to how people in the oldest village of the Sub-Saharan nation were getting their water from a more than 100-year-old well. She saw a woman pulling up a bucket of murky, yellow and clearly unsafe water to drink.

When she returned to the States, she worked with her biology teacher to research ways to filter the water through natural methods. Her research led her to the Mallampati method, created by a scientist of that name, who used dried apple peels and tomato skins to filter water from harmful chemicals.

She launched a nonprofit, Togo Together, and shared her findings with a Togo environmental group. Together, they are educating villagers about the filtration method and raising funds for electric kettles so villagers can boil their water. The long-term goal is to raise $6,000 to install a well that can access clean water and distribute it through pumps.

 

Speech: Sven Stumbauer, Columbus

Sven created Project Terra Firma to combat geographic illiteracy among underserved children in Miami-Dade. He began by teaching children at Chapman Partnership about the world, instilling a curiosity about other cultures and learning about global social issues. He expanded to Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, where he taught 45 children during summer camp. And he’s working to incorporate the project into his school’s geography club.

“I have taken firm action in teaching the homeless children at Chapman Partnership about the wonders of our world and that they can stake a claim in it for themselves,” he said.

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Art: Madeline Sadowski, St. Thomas Aquinas

Business: Sophia Jassir, Archbishop McCarthy High

Digital & Interactive Media: Deveyn Baptiste, Cardinal Gibbons; Silvia Rodriguez, St. Thomas Aquinas

English & Literature: Michael Bergstrom, St. Thomas Aquinas

Journalism: Andrew Ahrendt, Columbus; and Valentina Lanza, Immaculata-La Salle

Mathematics: Vincent Keane, Columbus; and Mia Chang, St. Thomas Aquinas

Music & Dance: Finley Peterson, Cardinal Gibbons

Science: Leonardo Gomez, Archbishop McCarthy

Social Science: Christopher Inguanzo, Archbishop McCarthy

Speech: Carlos Manuel Perez, Belen; and Sesil McKelvey, St. Thomas Aquinas