Coral Gables High School graduate Cassandra Gil begins Florida State University this fall to earn a degree in communications. She hasn’t yet narrowed down what aspect of the communications major she will pursue.
Her senior year at Gables was filled with all the wonderful things that seniors do and it was also filled with the joy of helping others.
Gil and her friends in the International Baccalaureate program initiated their Creativity Action and Service project that helped the homeless.
Gil said many of her classmates had projects to help third world countries but her group wanted to find a creative way to help people locally.
The group put collection bins in their classrooms at Gables to collect clothes that were then delivered to Camillus House.
“People would bring in new clothes or old clothes, whatever they could bring,” she said. “Most of the we did were for children. We tried to get a lot of jeans for little kids. Also some adult males.”
She said they were able to collect 10-15 bags of clothes.
This summer Gil is busy getting ready to go to college, but the past two summers she volunteered at Breakthrough Miami where underprivileged are given the opportunity to further their education. The classes were held at Ransom Everglades Middle School.
“It’s like a camp where kids go to learn math, science, history and English,” she said. “I taught them soccer. We would play with them. It was their PE.”
Gil worked as an assistant to the teachers most of the time.
“I liked it a lot. I have a knack for being with kids,” she said.
At Gables, she played soccer and badminton. She played soccer on the junior varsity team through her junior year. She didn’t play her senior year.
She played mixed doubles in badminton. The team took third place in the district this year.
— Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
