Luis Garcia-Sarabia wins Superintendent’s Student Innovation Challenge

Luis Garcia-Sarabia and Jonathan Wong, accompanied by Mr. Ennis, principal of Coral Reef and Dr. Monteagudo, principal of SAS, receive their $20,000 prize from Superintendent Dr. Carvalho, as winners of the Superintendent’s Student Innovation Challenge.

Congratulations to Coral Reef student Luis Garcia-Sarabia and his partner from SAS, Jonathan Wong, for winning one of three $20,000 prizes in the first-ever Superintendent’s Student Innovation Challenge.

Luis and Jonathan’s inventive submission about the handling of our county’s and planet’s water challenges was honored with the top award in the Environmental category.

Thank you to the Superintendent, coaches and judges for this amazing opportunity for our students to hone their presentation, speaking and writing skills; to be a part of a greater solution and to be recognized and awarded for their innovative thinking, social awareness and their commitment to improve our world.

CR Boasts Two Silver Knight Winners

Coral Reef boasts not one, but two Silver Knight winners for the 2019 awards. Sofia Alvarado won for the Business category and Jianan Zhang won for the Speech category.

After leaving Venezuela and receiving political asylum in the U.S., Sofia Alvarado knew she had to do something to help people back home. Three years ago, she started Stand Up for Venezuela, which sends supplies to Venezuela’s neediest children, such as group homes for girls who have been abused, or homes for children with major illnesses and children’s hospitals.

In the past year, Stand Up for Venezuela sent more than 300 boxes filled with food, clothes and supplies. She teamed up with Project Cozy, which sells blankets and donates an identical one to hospitals in Miami, to benefit two hospitals in Venezuela.

The lyrics to “The Greatest Love of All” — the one that opens with the line, “I believe that children are our future” — resonated with her when she read the lyrics as a child, she said.

Sofia is a U.S. Presidential CTE nominee and placed fifth in Future Business Leaders statewide awards.

When Jianan Zhang joined the nonprofit, We Are Nature, in 2016 as its volunteer and recruitment chair, she had no idea the experience would transform her life. She became president, organizing nearly 30 cleanups across South Florida, managing a network of team leaders, and working with a wide array of community organizations.

She organized two voter registration drives during cleanups in partnership with NextGen Florida ahead of the 2018 primary elections. She filmed a video in collaboration with The Love Vote to encourage people to vote on behalf of the environment, and as co-president of a youth leadership group, organized a workshop for high school freshman on developing their leadership skills.

She sees local threats like sea level rise and other natural disasters as “the forefront concern of our generation.”

Jianan was selected for a Van Alen Institute internship, and she was one of 25 high school students across the country to advance as a Bezos Scholars Finalist, a leadership program.

Silver Knights, like these young women, identify problems in their communities and beyond and work to solve them, sometimes under the grimmest of circumstances. On top of being star students with impressive résumés both in and outside of the classroom, they take on larger-than-life sustainable service projects. They commit to an intense, sometimes years-long application process to be nominated by their school for the Silver Knight awards and undergo an interview before a panel of judges.

The teens were among 30 winners recognized Thursday, May 16, at the 61st annual Miami Herald Silver Knight awards at the James L. Knight Center. They shined among 639 nominees from 109 schools in both counties, with winners picked in 15 categories in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties in categories ranging from art and athletics to science, mathematics, speech and world languages.

The winners join an exclusive group of Silver Knights who have made a lasting mark in the South Florida community and beyond. Notable alumni include Amazon founder and magnate Jeff Bezos, “Rocky” composer Bill Conti, artist Xavier Cortada, and Frances Dee Cook, the former ambassador to Burundi, Cameroon and Oman.

September Student of the Month

Miami, FL – October 3, 2018 –

Student of the Month with Mr. Ennis.

Congratulations to the following students. They were selected as Student of the Month for their Academy or Subject Area.

VPA – Ryan Antoine

BUSINESS – Christopher Varela

AGRISCIENCE – Stecia Steele

ENGINEERING – Megan Marling

MEDICAL – Arielle Bayard

LEGAL – Annabelle Colon

IB – Tavarria Zeigler

FOREIGN LANGUAGE – Timothy Shin

SOCIAL STUDIES – Erika Navarro

VOCATIONAL /PE – Jessica Hinchey

SPED – David Salcedo

SCIENCE – Rhianna Smith

MATHEMATICS – Sophia Salamanca

LANGUAGE ARTS – Jasmine Bergstrom

Silver Knight Winner Anik Willig

May 31, 2020

ANIK WILLIG
ENGLISH & LITERATURE
CORAL REEF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

During her freshman year, Anik Willig established H.E.R.O. (Homeless Empowerment and Reading Opportunities), an organization to promote literacy among homeless children in South Florida. Every Saturday for the past four years, Anik and a group of volunteers have gone to the Chapman Partnership in Homestead to host a reading activity for the children and to guide them as they read.

Anik reached out to family and friends for support and played the violin at events and even street corners to raise money for H.E.R.O. Over the past four years, H.E.R.O. has logged approximately 1,200 hours and served several hundred children. As editor in chief of her school’s Elysium Magazine, Anik earned a Columbia University Silver Crown Award and was a Gold Circle Literary Award nominee. She is a member of the National English Honor Society.

The honorable mentions were: Jada Richardson (VPA) – Drama; Omar Hussein (IB) – Science; Sofia Diaz-Rodriguez (IB) – Speech; Aisha Chebbi (IB) – World Languages.

30 high school seniors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties won a Silver Knight Award Thursday evening as part of the 62nd annual Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald program recognizing outstanding high school seniors. In total, 700 students from 103 public and private schools in both counties were nominated.

Each award includes a $2,000 scholarship from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a Silver Knight statue, an AAdvantage 25,000-mile travel certificate and the Silver Knight medallion presented by American Airlines employees. Another 90 seniors were named honorable mentions; they received a plaque and $500.

NTFE Miami-Dade Semi-Finalists

May 13, 2020

Congratulations to “She Who Succeeds” – Ashley Lau, Devan Prendes And Jade Sharon,  NTFE (Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship) Miami Dade Semi-Finalists

These students from Ms. Bolt’s Entrepreneurship class,  and members of the Academy of Finance, submitted an innovative winning idea during the NFTE  Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in May 2020. All competitors were required to complete  an Executive Summary, Powerpoint and Virtual Pitch/commercial of their idea.

She Who Succeeds is a nonprofit organization that provides business leadership education and services to females in the greater Miami area.

February 2020 Student of the Month

March 6, 2020

Congratulations to the following students. They were selected as Student of the Month for their Academy or Subject Area.

Language Arts: Micaela Perea 

Science: Pedro Alencar

Social Studies: Keith Khadar

World Languages: Mina Pomares

ESE: Jeffrey Murillo

Vocational Ed & PE: Christopher Madrid

Agri-Science: Omari Williams

Business: Juliette Donnelly

Engineering: August Bodin

Medical: Adbel Jimenez

IB: Sofia Izquierdo

Legal: Sabrina Almeyda

VPA: Carlos Avila

Dream In Green Miami

February 24, 2020

Congratulations to Paola Moncada, Paige Sutherland, and Jennifer Rosa who brought home the first place win for the Eco-Design & Build Competition with Dream In Green Miami. The competition took place at FIU on Saturday February 22.

Students of the Dreaming Green club researched the effects of sea level rise, stormwater runoff, and other environmental issues in the Miami River area. Students then designed and created an architectural 3D model and presented their ideas to a panel of judges at Florida International University. The Architecture Chair was among the judges.

Fairchild Challenge Winners

February 14, 2020

Seniors Solange Acosta and Adam Cheguer from Coral Reef High School won first place in the Fairchild Challenge, which is an award-winning, interdisciplinary, environmental science competition that was designed to engage students of all interests, talents, and backgrounds. The challenge took place at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables.

Schools from Miami-Dade and Broward participated in the challenge, which required them to debate on various topics, including the Turkey Point Power Plant, regulation of sunscreen sales, ending federal aid to rebuild in disaster-prone areas, and the Paris Climate Agreement.

Coca-Cola Regional Finalist Aisha Chebbi

February 12, 2020

Aisha Chebbi has been named a Regional Finalist for the 2020 class of the Coca‑Cola Scholars Program, moving to the next round of the selection process to become a Coca-Cola Scholar and receive a $20,000 college scholarship.

Aisha was among 1,928 Semifinalists who were selected from over 95,000 initial applicants and is now one of just 251 students who have moved to the final selection phase, regional interviews.

“We believe that identifying these young leaders throughout the country and encouraging their passion for serving others not only empowers the students, but also lifts up those around them.” said Jane Hale Hopkins, President of the Foundation. “The Coca-Cola system is dedicated to giving back to the communities they serve, and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation is proud to be a part of that commitment.”

In addition to receiving college scholarships, those students selected as Coca-Cola Scholars will come to Atlanta April 16-19 for Scholars Weekend where they will serve as the guests of honor at a celebratory banquet, participate in a leadership development curriculum, and be welcomed into a vibrant and growing family of alumni that have become a powerful force for positive change in the world.

January 2020 – Student of the Month

February 7, 2020

Congratulations to the following students. They were selected as Student of the Month for their Academy or Subject Area.

Ritha Fenelon– Language Arts

Gary Yu– Mathematics

Brian Giraud– Science

Laura De-Oliveira– Social Studies

Elise Wingard– Foreign Language

Chrisanntae Williams– Vocational/PE

Anton Johnson– ESE

Sage Ashby– Agriscience Academy

Dayzia Young– Business Academy

Jennifer Acevedo– Engineering Academy

Amy Wu– IB Academy

Claudia Urday– Legal Academy

Bianka Estrada– Medical Academy

Sean Solomon– VPA Academy

December Student of the Month

January 13, 2020

Congratulations to the following students. They were selected as Student of the Month for their Academy or Subject Area.

Language Arts – Mariana Chinea

Mathematics – Mia Cruz

Science – Mariana Villa

Social Studies – Bethany Malin Guaggio

World Languages – Natalia Perez

Voc Ed & PE – Claudia Urday

SPED – Hermann Peters

Agri/Science – Jazzmyn Martinez

Business – Elliot Muskat

Engineering – Patrick Dugarte

IB – Emma Guedj

Legal – Sarahi Chavez-Lopez

Medical – Katherine Mesa

VPA – Lili Wade

November Student of the Month

December 9, 2019 –

Congratulations to the following students. They were selected as Student of the Month for their Academy or Subject Area.

Gabriela E. Martinez – Language Arts

Hamlet Santos – Mathematics

Ally Aguado – Science

Dayanna Montoya – Social Studies

Barbara Favier – Foreign Language

Sebastian Ocampo – Vocational/PE

Adrian Concepcion – SPED

Jasmine Labrada – Agriscience Academy

Steven Williams – Business Academy

Kenzo Salazar – Engineering Academy

Jacqueline Perez – IB Academy

Nyla Evans – Legal Academy

Nelson Prieto – Medical Academy

Kayla Conde – VPA Academy

Business Students Place at NFTE’s Annual Innovation Summit

October 15, 2019 –

Business students participated in NFTE’s (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) Annual Innovation Summit on Tuesday, Nov 12th  at FIU.

The winning students competed against more than 80 teams throughout Miami-Dade County to take earn a 1st and 3rd place win!

1st place winners included Erin Yaroshuk (Sr), Chineyeyah Bryant (Sr).

Gabriel Bosi (Jr) won 3rd place in the event.

The contest participants had to design a product or service that promotes technology/vocational education, relevant skills training or lifelong learning opportunities. They collaborated to write/present a 1 minute elevator pitch to present to the judges. Students were awarded monetary prizes for their efforts.

Students in Entrepreneurship 1 taught by Ms Bolt (Business teacher),  use their entrepreneurial skills and mindset to evolve an innovative solution to a problem into a validated business opportunity.  IN that class, they are engaged in researching and testing their ideas;  and are challenged to activate entrepreneurial mindset behaviors that will help them in college and careers.