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Westminster Christian School senior Macy Michelle Auerbacher is the co-president of the Junior Opera Guild, an offshoot of Young Patronesses of the Opera.
“We raise money for struggling opera artists,” she says. “They are not well compensated.”
They recently had a garage sale at her house that raised several thousand dollars. They took care to make sure the event was safe in this age of COVID.
“We had everyone put hand sanitizer on, we wiped down everything,” she says. “Everything was spread out and everyone was wearing masks.”
The items were collected for months and stored at her house. The garage sale was put on by both JOG and the Young Patronesses.
“In the past we have done pancake breakfasts,” she says. “We would do a lot of different things.”
They have to get creative fundraising since COVID has made it difficult to gather.
The biggest fundraiser they would have was the fashion show. One year they had it at the Bloomingdales at the Falls.
“We would have a silent auction at the fashion show,” she says.
This is her fourth year in the JOG, working her way up from member to treasurer and now co-president.
Auerbacher says COVID has made things very difficult for the opera singers since they aren’t able to put on performances although they do try to do little things to keep people interested.
The money they raise will help fund the Florida Grand Opera National Voice Competition.
“They have a competition every other year and we give them the grand prize, $10,000,” Auerbacher says.
Members of the JOG would attend Magic City Opera shows and they ushered for the opera at the Adrienne Arsht Center.
“We go through this long training to do that,” she says.
When not working to promote the opera, Auerbacher spends time playing tennis. She’s been playing since sixth grade and has been on the Westminster varsity tennis team since she was a freshman. In the summer, she coached tennis at the Fun Camp at Westminster.
“Three or four weeks out of the summer I’d be at my school coaching little kids,” she says.
This year, she’s the top seed on the tennis team. The team is young with a lot of new players.
“I’m playing number one, so it’s my role to lead everyone,” she says.
Auerbacher is a member of the English Honor Society and she’s a Peer Counselor. As a peer counselor she talks to kids who need someone to confide in but don’t want to speak to an adult.
At the beginning of the school year, Auerbacher was trying to figure out her college major, so she began shadowing the school’s athletic trainer. During football season she helped wrap ankles and iced injuries to see if sports medicine was the path for her.
While she found it interesting, she says it wasn’t for her.
“I’m going in undecided. I have so many interests,” she says. “I was leaning toward law, and majoring in political science. My dad’s a lawyer, my grandfather is a lawyer. I have always seen myself as a doctor. But I don’t know. I’ll find myself in college.”
However, she does want to minor in Spanish and take a semester in Spain.
She’s waiting to hear from Florida Atlantic University, Seton Hall, Rutgers, the College of Charleston, Appalachian state, Florida Gulf Coast University and FSU. She suspects she’ll remain in Florida because she’s not a fan of cold weather.
Linda Rodriquez Bernfeld
