Coral Gables High senior Sophie Feinberg has earned more than a thousand community service hours. She volunteers at Temple Judea, working with preschoolers at the summer camp and kindergarteners at the religious school.
Coral Gables High senior Sophie Feinberg has earned more than a thousand community service hours. She volunteers at Temple Judea, working with preschoolers at the summer camp and kindergarteners at the religious school.
“I work with the teachers in the classrooms and help keep it organized, and I work with the kids,” she said.
Feinberg has been active at school. She practices with the cross-country team, is a member of Interact, English Honor Society, Quill and Scroll and she is an editor for Cavs Connect, the online newspaper.
“I work with the review section and we have a weekly cycle,” she said. “Each week I work with a couple of writers and every other day I’ll go back in and edit. And I’ll write some of my own articles if I can.”
She likes to write for other sections, and her plan is to continue to write in college by majoring in journalism.
“I’d be interested in any newspaper-related job whether it’s in print or online,” she said.
Her college list includes school that have strong journalism programs, including Northwestern. She also became interested in Boston area schools after attending the Harvard Model Congress.
“The event introduced me to politics in a new way and brought me out of my comfort zone by having me play a role that conflicted with my personal views regarding oversight and government affairs and drone strikes,” she said.
Feinberg has been able to have an active high school career despite battling Ulcerative Colitis since eighth grade.
“At one point I had been hospitalized four to five times in a year,” Feinberg said, adding that she on a new medication that is helping.
For her International Baccalaureate service project, she created a website about Ulcerative Colitis and she has given talks at school.
“It is hereditary,” she said. “It’s especially common in Eastern European Jews. My dad has it. He’s in remission.”
Unfortunately, they haven’t used the word remission for her yet. Feinberg said the condition is active in younger people but can go into remission in adulthood.
“Hopefully it will do that for me,” she said.
— Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
