Every Saturday afternoon, Palmetto High School senior Elisa M. D’Ambrosia goes to Fairchild Tropical Garden to work as a volunteer.
Her duties include checking in members and giving them tips on what they should see as well as giving visitors directions.
During the summer, she volunteered three times a week. She started out greeting people, answering questions and directing as to where they could purchase tickets for Fairchild and moved to checking in members.
She loves Fairchild. She’s been visiting the garden for three years, since her parents became members.
“We would go to the festivals. It’s such a pretty place to go,” she says. “I had a lot of free times last year, ironically, I wanted to do something and that was one idea and it worked out.”
At school, D’Ambrosia is enjoying being a member of the Palmetto water polo team. She joined last year, after working up the courage to try out. She was happy to discover that a lot of the girls were also first time players. She says water polo is a rough sport but fun.
This year, she is planning to join the Bridge to English club. Club members tutor ESOL students at Pinecrest Elementary. She talked to one of her classmates who tutors for the club.
“I said that sounds interesting, because I’m an ESOL graduate,” she says.
D’Ambrosia’s dad is American and her mother is Colombian. Although she was born outside of Seattle, she moved to Colombia when she was three and returned to the U.S. when she was almost 11. Her Colombian relatives spoke English, but not as well as people do in Miami.
“I forgot English. I didn’t have the knowledge or the practice to have a long conversation with people,” she says. “That was an adjustment.”
Now her English is fine and she’s taking sign language at school. She ended up taking sign language because it was one of the classes available when she transferred from Coral Reef to Palmetto.
“Sign language is easy. Unlike other languages, it doesn’t involve pronouncing and hearing,” she says. “It’s all motor skill. Body language is a huge thing. It’s important to have the correct body language and facial expressions.”
While sign language can be easy to learn, there are also intricacies when it comes to regional differences and differences for different countries.
D’Ambrosia is the treasurer of the Sign Language Club. She’s a new member of the Spanish National Honor Society, the Creative Writing Club and the Italian Honor Society.
“Years ago, I wanted to learn Italian because it was my heritage,” she says.
This past summer she began learning Italian again. She wants to be able to use her Italian when she and her family visit Italy during the Winter Break.
“I’m interested in languages. I really like the idea of being a polyglot,” she says. She may major in languages in college or linguistics.
She’s considering the University of Florida, University of Central Florida, Wesleyan, Hamilton College and George Washington University.
For fun, D’Ambrosia likes to paint and create art from nature to abstract art.
“I’ve recently been incorporating everyday items—such as bottles and aluminum foil—which would not necessarily be everyone’s first choice as an art material,” she says. “All with the purpose of conveying how the mind changes and jumps around from one thought to the next.”
She hopes that society will see the value that art brings to our well-being. D’Ambrosia also enjoys watersports like surfing and sailing.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
