By the end of last year, Coral Gables High School senior Isabella Gonzalez had more than 999 community service hours.
“Ever since I was little, I was very involved in my community. That’s my passion,” Gonzalez said.
One of her priorities is Our Little Roses, a non-governmental organization that is focused on Honduras.
“Around 65 percent of the population lives below the poverty line,” she said. “The girls are abused, abandoned or neglected. They give a home to the girls. They rely on donations.”
She became interested in working with the organization after meeting a pastor familiar with the program.
“I asked him if could take part in anything. They let me head my own little program,” she said. “I collect school supplies and clothes at three different locations and at the end of every month I give them what I have.”
This summer she went to Honduras and directed a play called La Cucarachita Manuelita with proceeds going to Our Little Roses. She also taught English to the girls.
Gonzalez is multi-talented. Not only can she act and direct, she sings. She earned fifth place on X Factor in 2014.
“I was a part of a band [called Give Me Five] and we wrote/performed songs on TV, concerts, etc.” she said. “We even have several singles on iTunes/Spotify, as well, with over 309 million views on YouTube on each of our music videos including a VEVO account.”
She is in Thespians and won superiors at the district and state level for singing in the Thespian competition.
Gonzalez is in the National Honor Society, the International Baccalaureate Honor Society, Interact, Science National Honor Society and Spanish National Honor Society.
In the summer, she goes to Colombia where she shadows doctors. She has shadowed a dermatologist and an orthopedic surgeon. She also has attended a three-week medical program at UCLA and Johns Hopkins University over the past two summers.
Dartmouth, Washington University in St. Louis and Cornell are among her top college choices. She wants to major in neuroscience and minor in theater or French.
— Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
