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Westminster Christian School senior Marietta Riera recently started a new club at school, the Prayer Warriors.
“I did it with my sister, Mia,” she says. “We can establish a safe place where students can openly discuss and express the challenges they face daily. It’s a way for us to support one another and strengthening our relationship with God.”
One of the outreach programs she’s been thinking about will help youth in third-world countries.
“We want to give them Bibles,” she says. “This way we can give them the opportunity to learn about God.”
She would also like to team up with other private schools.
“We are going to reach out to the schools and see that they are okay with it and start planning the trip,” she says. “We give them the Bibles so they can take them on their trips.”
Her community service includes volunteering for the Lucas Alvarez LA 6 Foundation.
“Lucas Alvarez was a student at Westminster. He passed away in his senior year in a boating accident,” she says. “The foundation gives scholarships to underprivileged kids for trade school, specifically mechanics since he wanted to go into that.”
Last year she volunteered at three or four events.
“They have a lot of events,” she says. “I try to fit in three. It’s good to help out in the community. The foundation is important to me because it provides a beacon of light for grieving parents to heal, and my goal is to make a difference in the live of the parents and the Alvarez Family.”
Riera says she tries to fit in as many volunteer opportunities as possible, but she also has to go to cheerleading practice – as a flyer on the varsity team – performances and games. Plus, they also must put in time in the weight room.
Riera transferred to Westminster at the start of her junior year because she wanted to go to the same school as her sister. Westminster also offered activities, such as cheerleading, not available at her previous school.
“I’m also a student ambassador so I’m going to be helping with the tours,” she says. “We are the face of the school. I feel this comes naturally to me because I’m an extrovert and I enjoy talking to people. I do this because I love my school and I want others to experience what the school has given me – joy.”
She’s also in the NICU Charity Club. Club members do things to help the parents who have babies in the NICU at Baptist Hospital.
“This club hits close to home because my oldest brother passed away as a baby and I can immediately connect with those families,” she says. “I do it because it impacts them with love and gives those parents hope. We make costumes for the kids. We make them little headbands that have bunny ears on them. They bring onesies, we paint them, or we put different types of things on them, so it looks like a costume for the child.”
In her Honors class called Approaches to Leadership, she organizes a weekly community event for Chapel. She loves putting them together.
“We coordinate with guest speakers, and musicians, from the school and community,” she says.
Riera is the top anchor of her Mass Media Class. She’s been taking the class since her freshman year.
For college she wants to major in pre-law and minor in journalism and marketing. Her goal is to go to law school.
Her plan is to apply to local schools including Florida International University and the University of Miami.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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