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A year ago, Palmetto High School junior Lorenzo Castillo-Rios took over as CEO of Volunteering Miami, an exciting project created by former student Alexandr Kim and made it even better.
Volunteering Miami is an organization that helps students discover volunteering opportunities in their own community.
While it was a great project, it had an older website, so he and another volunteer updated the website and put it on a new platform. He also worked to change the organization from an LLC to a 501c3, a full non-profit.
He and the staff still wanted to do more.
“That’s when we came up with the first volunteer fair,” he says. “The turnout was excellent considering the weather we had. “
The first volunteer fair drew 27 organizations and 140 students – enough to make a second volunteer fair a good idea. It will take place at Palmetto on March 4.
“We are expecting around 50 organizations and around 400 students,” he says. And we’re going to be selling concessions as a fundraiser for the Class of ’25.’
He is proud of the work Volunteering Miami is doing.
“It wouldn’t be possible without the staff,” he says.
They have also started other projects throughout the community. One is Dancers Dressing Dancers. That’s a donation drive for dance needs such as costumes and other dance necessities that will be sent to developing countries such as El Salvador.
There is also a beach clean-up that they are partnering with three other student run organizations to put on.
“Instead of making a small impact in one area, we will make a large impact on an entire beach,” he says. “We’ll have 100-150 volunteers to have a larger impact.”
The event will be a clean-up of the mangroves at Matheson Hammock. The project will also showcase volunteer efforts by teens.
In the year-and-a-half since taking over, they have connected 1200 volunteers. Since the inception of the original website, the count is 1700.
Volunteering Miami now has a presence at Southwest High, Coral Reef, New World Center of the Arts, and Cutler Bay High School.
When he reconstructed the website, he discovered something about himself.
“Before I never wanted anything to do with websites and computers and now, I love it,” he says.
Castillo is involved in other extracurricular activities. He’s the National Honor Society treasurer and he’s the Student Council Historian Chair.
“I take photos of all the school events. We post them on social media. It’s photos of students,” he says. “We are spreading happiness and school spirit around the school through photography.”
He also freelances as a photographer, taking pictures at events such as Sweet Sixteens and Quinces.
“I also take photos of kids soccer games and kids sports events. But for Palmetto I take photos for free,” he says. “Yearbook uses my photos as well as the activities account and the school website.”
He’s also involved in Key Club, but on the state level. He’s the Lt. Governor and oversees 11 clubs in Miami-Dade County.
He works with them on everything from service projects, planning events and fundraising.
“My division is so widespread, I have Palmetto and Coral Reef to Coral Gables,” he says.
He attends the meetings for all 11 clubs.
In the summer, he volunteers at the Holy Rosary Summer Camp.
Although it’s still early, Castillo says he’d love to go to a college in the northeast. But he may decide to stay in-state in which case, the University of Florida would be on his list. He wants to major in Business Management or Marketing.
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