Gulliver Prep senior Ali Trattler is an officer in Achieve Miami.
“That’s where we go to inner city schools and help the children because they are reading below their grade level,” she says. “I started last fall and I’ll be doing it until May when I go to college.”
Trattler works with a girl in fourth grade who has been making strides in improving her reading.
“When we started she was slower at reading,” Trattler says. “Now she’s moving up. She’s using chapter books, which is fun. We’ve been reading one series continuously.”
Although Trattler has been volunteering with Achieve Miami for a couple of years, this is the first year working with this buddy.
“Last year we were at a different school,” she says. “We were at Holmes Elementary last year. This year we are at Earlington Heights.”
She learned how much she loves working with kids through her volunteer efforts.
“When I get older I want to go into a profession where I can work with kids,” she says.
Her other major volunteer commitment is to the Children’s Bereavement Center. This is her second year working with the children who have suffered a loss in the family. She learned about the program from her mom, who wanted to volunteer there for a couple of years. Her mom told her about the teen program and Trattler decided to start volunteering.
“I work with younger and old elementary school students,” she says. “We do games to remember the people who died we talk about family members who have died. We do a lot of coloring. We’ve made picture frames to put a picture of our loved one.”
Trattler says she feels the kids can relate to her because she’s still a teen. At the same time, she’s earned their respect.
“If I tell them to stop talking, they’ll stop talking,” she says. “They’ll listen to me. I connect with them really well.”
When she first began working with the kids at the Bereavement Center, she felt somewhat uncomfortable.
“Because I wasn’t sure how to relate to these kids who lost people who were close to them,” she says. “I started understanding what they were going through.”
At school, Trattler is the captain of the cross-country team. The team’s season was cut in half by Hurricane Irma. However, she still enjoyed the season because she was able to run with her brother who is a freshman.
Trattler is expecting to run track this year. She runs the 800, the 1600, and the 4 x 800 relay. She also runs half marathons. She plans on running the Miami Marathon Jan. 28.
At Gulliver, Trattler is in the National Honor Society, the National Art Honor Society and Charitable Arts Club. Club members work with kids in an inner-city school on art.
“What they paint, we sell it and give that money back to the school for their arts program,” she says. “We usually host a couple of events throughout the year. We have a Halloween event.”
She’s been involved in Charitable Arts since her freshman year.
Trattler is an art student. She takes the two-year International Baccalaureate program HL Art Class.
“I have a few photography art pieces and the rest are between painting and sculpture,” she says.
In college, Trattler wants to major in psychology when she attends Northeastern University in Boston. She eventually wants to earn a Master’s in Social Work. Her goal is to become a social worker in a hospital.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
