Dozens of South Florida high schoolers celebrated at Achieve Miami’s Senior Send-Off
Dozens of South Florida high school seniors received a sweet send-off to celebrate their hard work thanks to a nonprofit that helped shine a light on two very special students It was a special celebration for soon-to-be-graduates Thursday evening as Achieve Miami highlighted the accomplishments of particular exceptional students Claudia Bororquez deputy director of Achieve Miami explained how their activity works So our scholar venture we recruit students starting their sophomore year so it s a combination of their whole school journey she announced At selected schools we really start the freshman year so we want to do something really exciting to celebrate our seniors and that s why we created our Senior Send-Off event Thursday s celebration held at the Milander Center for Arts Entertainment in Hialeah was all about seniors who excelled in society arrangement Speakers at the event showcased how the scheme boosted their confidence and helped place them on the path to success Two standouts Pherell Washington and Sophie Deras were hailed as Big Buddies of the Year Bororquez announced they re highlighting an extra-special group of seniors We re celebrating about seniors that are graduating right now in May This group is really special obviously it s the group that has kind of lived throughout past COVID she mentioned Deras a senior at Booker T Washington Senior High School dedicated the last three years to mentoring elementary school students She revealed she plans to attend Florida State University in the fall Deras declared the operation has helped her meet new people and make new connections They helped me the most of with my confidence because back in ninth grade I used to be very quiet to myself and I m still to myself I still have like this quiet kind of presence but I can now lead in any sort of circumstances I m in she revealed Washington a scholar at Miami Northwestern also helped younger students on weekends He s set to attend Pomona College as a Posse Scholar Washington revealed he got invited through a counselor and was glad to give it a shot I would say they really connected me with the society I didn t know too much about provision at first and then like doing Saturdays and summers with Achieve seeing how much we can help kids from not knowing how to read at all to learning to like read full pages he commented Achieve Miami noted its operation aims to provide educational equity while helping students with academics college preparation and financial literacy Washington explained he ll have fond memories of his time helping others and he has a message for younger students I tell them Get involved I would tell anyone else who feels like they can make an impact or a difference in their district or other communities that you know may need a little bit of assistance I would tell them Take that step and just do it because it s going to be a wholesome experience in the end and you re going to see how making a positive impact on others can authentically positively affect you as well ' he declared Since its founding in the nonprofit has helped more than students across communities in South Florida
