Coral Gables High senior Lucy Baez enjoys nature, so she volunteered at Fairchild Tropical Garden last summer.
“I was part of the Lakers. We would clean up the lake from algae growing on the surface,” she said. “We would trim invasive plants.”
She also assisted park visitors who needed information or help finding their way. She enjoyed learning about the park and the plants.
Baez said she has a natural inclination to learn random pieces of information.
“It was explained to me when I took a walk around the park, one woman turned a fern over and told us to look at the pattern,” she said.
“Turn over the fern leaf, you can tell what kind of fern it is by the pattern of the spores. Each generic species have their own spore pattern.”
At school, Baez is a member of the National Honor Society, Interact and is vice president of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA).
Her freshman year she participated in the FBLA competition in the Introduction to Business Communications category. That year she didn’t make it past the district level but her sophomore and junior years she made it to state and one team made it to the national competition. This year she tried a new category, Job Interview.
Baez also has competed on the track and field team in the shot put and discus.
In college, Baez hopes to double major in international business and marketing. She has been accepted to several prestigious schools, including FIU, UF, Penn State and Allegheny College in Pennsylvania.
“I have an interest in business overall. I enjoy traveling a lot,” she said. “That’s where the perspective of international business.”
Baez is an AP Scholar of Distinction, which means that she scored a four or five on six or more Advanced Placement exams. She hopes to be an AP National Scholar which requires more than 10 fours or fives on AP exams.
— Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
