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Since ninth grade, Miami Palmetto High School rising senior Ruby Pelz has volunteered at Palmetto Elementary School twice a week helping coach the school’s cheer teams. On Tuesdays, she works with second and third graders and on Thursdays she coaches fourth and fifth graders.
“I choregraph and teach them,” she says. “I go through the performances with them. I also attend the performances with them. For the past two years they performed at Heat games, school events and the Winter Show – a show that the elementary puts on with all the performing arts.”
Pelz learned to cheer when she attended Palmetto Elementary. She went on to Palmetto Middle School where she cheered in sixth grade but then COVID happened, and the cheering ended. She did not get back to it until she was asked to help coach the elementary school kids.
“I am able to go to an activity I loved,” she says.
Her former coach asked for her help when she saw Pelz at the grocery store.
She said yes because she wanted to be able to give back to her community.
“And to help kids to relive that positive spirit I had as a kid, has been super fulfilling,” she says. “It’s so much fun.”
Pelz also gives back to the community with a project she started called Resources for Resilience.
“I collected items for the in-patient unit at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital last year,” she says.
“It was a bunch of necessities.”
Those necessities included clothes, leggings, and bras.
“They also wanted games, markers, simple items to make their stay more comfortable,” she says.
She expanded the focus of her community service project because she wanted to help people with mental health issues.
“I decided to donate journals to the Homestead Correctional Facility,” she says. “Each of the women are getting a journal, a pen and a sticker. The journal is for them to write their thoughts and be an outlet for them. They don’t have access to mental health.”
Pelz says she’s had her own struggles with mental health so helping others who have issues is important to her.
“I’ve had access to many different resources,” she says. “I want to make sure everyone has that same access. I know how much my support team has helped.”
Pelz also assists the community with tutoring. She’s the president of Tutoring for Tomorrow moving up from her time as treasurer. Each month, Tutoring for Tomorrow donates a portion of the proceeds to a cause.
“On Give Miami Day, we found a company called Exchange for Change,” she says. “My mom is also super involved in Exchange for Change. I never grasped what it does, until Give Miami Day. They are a non-profit that aims at educating incarcerated students. They teach writing classes.”
She suggested Tutoring for Tomorrow should donate to the cause.
Collecting and donating 230 journals to the Women’s Correctional Facility has been impactful for Pelz so she’s looking for more ways to help.
At school, Pelz is the president of the Class of 2026. She’s been class president since sophomore year.
She’s a member of the Health Information Project this year but will be secretary next year.
“I love that it teaches mental health,” she says. “One of the main things I realized I love to do is to help destigmatize mental health.”
Her extracurriculars include being the design editor of the Palm Echo, the school yearbook.
She’s a member of the National Honor Society, the Social Science National Honor Society, and the Science National Honor Society,
Her career goal is to become a lawyer.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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