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Miami Palmetto High School senior Ryan Taks volunteers at Friendship Circle, helping special needs kids become friends with kids their age through activities.
“We do activities such as karate, art, swimming, equestrian, and also Zumba,” he says.
They usually meet at the Chabad in Kendall, but the Chabad is being renovated so they are meeting in an office building for the time being.
Friendship Circle has programs every other Sunday and a home visit program, but they also have a weekday program, which is what Taks usually goes to.
“During Mondays we have Zumba and art at the same time,” he says. “The adults (ages 18-23) are in Zumba, then the adults move to art and the kids move to Zumba.”
Taks says during the week, the ratio of volunteers is more of a one on one than during the Sunday program.
“You can focus on what you are doing together,” he says.
Last year he attended two days a week, this year he is trying to go three to four times a week. Right now, he’s doing Monday and Wednesdays.
He’s been a volunteer since seventh grade. He started because his brother was a volunteer, and he recommended it. Taks loves it and has become very attached.
“My love for it keeps growing every day,” he says. “I’ve been president two years.”
He’s one of about 10 presidents on the board. The presidents deal with fundraising and outreach among other things.
“I’m part of the fundraising portion,” he says. “We do this annual walk-a-thon in May. We walk around Indian Hammock Park. It’s one of our biggest fundraisers.”
At school, Taks plays badminton doubles for Palmetto.
“Last year we won district finals (as a team),” he says. “All thanks to our coach. He’s a very well-organized coach.”
He’s on the board of the finance club as the outreach coordinator. He’s been a member since last year. The club has grown since he joined. Last year they had about 15 members and now they have about 120 members.
“We do stock simulations,” he says. “We’re going to competitions this year. We’re going to do field trips.”
Because of his interest in business and finance, he worked to bring in the National Business Honor Society to Palmetto. They were still organizing the club rules and leadership in September.
Taks is a member of Key Club, a community service organization. He tries to be at all meetings and take part in as many events as possible. For one project, he made motivational cards with inspirational notes for patients at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.
He’s also a member of the National Honor Society, the French Honor Society, and Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT).
“I’m very active in that club,” he says. “I go on field trips and participate as much as I can.
The big thing we do is go to malls and we do activities around the mall, finding items that consist of nicotine. And take pictures. We warn students about the disadvantages of nicotine. We post them on SWAT Instagram. Social media in general gets to the public easier and quicker.”
Taks wants to study pre-law in college. But depending on where he goes, he might study English or History and then go on to law school.
If he is awarded a Posse Scholarship, he will go to Davidson College in North Carolina.
Other schools on his college list include the University of Florida, Florida State University, Miami-Dade Honors College, Pomona and Syracuse.
For fun, Taks likes to go fishing with his brother.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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