Coral Gables High senior Jake Paz has earned approximately 1,300 community service hours.
“During this last summer I spent almost all my summer volunteering at the Coral Gables Youth Center,” Paz said.
He volunteered although he had already maxed out on the hours in the system. Students max out at 999.
“I earned about 500 just at the youth center,” he said.
He also volunteered at the Coral Gables Farmer’s market. There he helped put up and break down tents. He interacted with the community while working with the city’s Special Events Department.
Through the Special Events Department, he also worked at the tree lighting ceremony and most big events conducted by the city.
For his International Baccalaureate community service project, he and a group of friends began a tutoring program at Ponce de Leon Middle School last year.
The high school students go to Ponce once a week to help the middle school students with algebra. They not only offer in-person help, but they also post tutoring sessions on YouTube.
“We wanted to help people who struggle in math,” Paz said.
At Gable, he is the vice president of the IB Honor Society.
“We organize an international dinner every year,” he said. “Last year we were able to raise $12,000 for Flying High for Haiti. We were able to build two classrooms.”
Paz is the opinion editor for Cavs Connect, the online newspaper; and secretary of the National Honor Society.
As a member of Interact, he has worked to raise awareness for important events such as suicide prevention and the Sylvester Cancer Center.
In college, he’s hoping to go into a STEM related field — possibly biology.
“I want to be a doctor when I grow up,” he said.
He’s hoping for a Posse scholarship which would send him to Davidson in North Carolina. If not, he will apply to FIU, UF and UM.
— Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
