Last spring, Coral Gables High senior Camila Lupi collected first aid supplies to send to Haiti. The project is called Hope for Haiti and was successful in accumulating more than 1,000 items, including cotton balls, bandages, gauze and syringes.
“We collected it through the Interact Club at school,” she said. “When we do these projects, to make it more fun we’ll start a competition among teachers and classrooms. They win a certain amount in gift cards.”
They started the drive after talking with someone at church who is involved with Hope for Haiti.
“We just collect the supplies; at the headquarters they have people who put the supplies into first aid kits,” Lupi said. “Once the kits are ready they send them over.”
When the collection ended at the beginning of last summer, she drove them over to the headquarters in Naples. The first aid kits have been sent to Haiti.
She hopes to do the project again at school this spring.
As president of Interact, Lupi plans and organizes community service projects for members; participation. She is a member of the National Honor Society, an editor for Highlights and a member of Gables Earth, the school’s environmental club.
Outside of school, Lupi was a competitive gymnast for 12 years.
“I stopped gymnastics because of injuries and tried cheerleading,” she said. “It was better for my body than gymnastics was but I decided to stop because I didn’t want things to get worse.”
Lupi isn’t sure about her college major yet, She knows it will be in the sciences — probably chemistry or molecular biology. She is considering going into medicine.
To be sure it is what she wants, Lupi participated in an observation program at the University of Miami, which allowed her to shadow a neurosurgeon for four weeks. She also shadowed a trauma surgeon. She has applied to strong liberal arts college that have outstanding science programs.
— Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
