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With some friends, Miami Palmetto Senior High School junior Brady Sijan co-founded the Teen Tutor Society, a group of five teens that goes to Palmetto Middle School and provides free tutoring.
Every Thursday Sijan and his friends go to the middle school to help students who are struggling in a variety of subjects.
“I attended that middle school from grades six to eight,” he says. “I know all the teachers and all the campus. I wanted to give back to the community. They helped me out.”
He found out that the Palmetto Middle community needed help through one of his friends.
So they got together and created the organization.
“It’s mainly math,” he says. “We also teach any middle school science – biology, earth science, physical science, sixth and seventh grade science. People who need help with language arts, we help them, too.”
He’s used to working with younger kids, having volunteered for Achieve Miami. He’d go to the host school, and he’d read a book with one of the kids.
“The first half is reading,” he says. “We pick out a book they like, then they have a fun activity. We’d make cookies, we’d do painting, and my favorite part is we go outside and do fun activities like play soccer.”
At Achieve Miami, the Little Buddies pick the teen they want to work with. There was one that always picked Sijan, but he’d be picked by other kids if that boy wasn’t there.
“I had a great experience doing that,” he says. “I think I had a great impact with their reading skills.”
Outside of school, Sijan coached a youth basketball team made of fifth and sixth graders in the Temple Beth Am League with his twin brother.
“It was my first time coaching but I’m going to do it next year,” he says. “It was fun. We had practices every Tuesday and Thursday for an hour and games every weekend. I realized how well these kids – some never met each other – I saw how fast they bonded. At the end of the season, it seemed like they had been best friends for many years.”
Sijan played basketball when he was in the league when he was young then switched to the Elite Basketball Academy when COVID shut down the Beth Am League. He’s back to playing in the Beth Am League now.
At Palmetto he plays doubles on the badminton team. This is his second year on the team, which is considered one of the best in the county, often winning GMACs.
He’s a member of the Finance Club, the National Honor Society, and the Business National Honor Society. He’s also a member of the 2026 Class Cabinet. He’s also in the Advanced Placement Capstone program. Last year he was in the PAWS Club.
During the summer, he attended a University of Florida Vet Program, which only 20 students per year are accepted. During his time there, the students attended lectures, and they went to the rehab area at Sea World.
“We saw injured dolphins,” he says. “And we saw penguins. There was a penguin right in front of me, walking the hallways.”
They also went to the White Oak Conservation, a 17,000-acre conservation center in northeast Florida.
“We saw a bunch of endangered animals, cheetahs, giraffes, many wild animals,” he says.
“They have a hospital area where we tested blood samples and learned how to match samples with animals.”
Sijan wants to be a vet so he’s considering applying to not only the University of Florida, but the University of North Carolina and Norte Dame.
Linda Rodriquez Bernfeld
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