Coral Gables High senior Moira Meijaard loves to write. However, she didn’t have an outlet for her writing the first two years of high school because she attended a small school.
The switch to Gables allowed her to join Catharsis, the literary magazine. This year’s she also is president of the Creative Writing Club.
Meijaard took first place at a Florida Scholastic Press Association conference, for a short story in the on-the-spot creative writing category.
At the state level, she received an honorable mention.
Meijaard is prose editor for Catharsis this year. She edits all prose pieces, both fiction and non-fiction.
Initially she attended the International Studies Charter High School for eighth, ninth and 10th grades. She switched to Gables for junior and senior years.
“I actually ran out of classes in International Studies,” she said. “I was two years advanced in math. I was also a year ahead in English.”
Not only that, but she had run out of French classes to take. There was Advanced Placement Spanish Literature class she could have taken, but her main interest was French.
Meijaard entered the Gables International Baccalaureate program against advice. Her gamble worked. She is in the top one percent academically.
“I’m doing better than anticipated,” she said.
At Gables, she is in the Future Business Leaders of America. Last year she won first place in business communication at the district level and competed at the state level.
She also is in Model United Nations. She credits her participation in Model UN competitions with enhancing her public speaking skills.
“Which is useful because I want to go into politics or law,” she said.
When she graduates, she will have earned her high school diploma and an associate degree in economics.
In college, she wants to double major in economics and creative writing or get a minor in creative writing and then go on to study policymaking or law.
She has applied to UF, UCF, FIU, UM, NYU, Emory and Vanderbilt.
— Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
