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To help promote the wearing of masks during the pandemic Palmetto High School rising senior Bruno Wencelblat created a poster contest for elementary school students.
He began planning in December for the contest that would run in February. To be eligible, students had to be in fourth or fifth grade and students at Coral Reef, Howard Drive, Palmetto, Perrine and Pinecrest Elementary Schools and Frank C Martin K-8 Center.
“I contacted the principals of the various schools and asked if they wanted to join,” he says, “The poster had to promote mask wearing.”
He gave Amazon gift cards for $50, $25 and $10 as prizes that he paid for himself. The project is on display at @MaskMonth on Instagram.
He saw the need for the contest after walking around in public when masks were required.
“You notice that a lot of people don’t have their masks on,” he says. “I thought, is there any way I can help the community and promote mask wearing and do it in a fun way. I remember in elementary doing the poster competitions.”
He found an artist, an art professor and a branding expert to judge the contest. The winners came from Frank C. Martin, Pinecrest and Howard Drive.
“There were some great submissions,” he says. “It was really nice to see people participated.”
For years, Wencelblat volunteered at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club summer camp. He’s the former captain of the Laser Racing Team at the sailing club.
“The team was made up from 5-15 people, depending on the time,” he says. “That was a great experience. At races, I’d help the team stay focused on the task at hand.”
At the summer camp, he taught the kids to sail and helped in other areas.
“I tend to work with kids grades five and below,” he says.
He’d teach them how to sail Optimists, a one-person boat.
He started sailing when he was nine years old and used to compete and win regattas. He would compete 1-2 times a month. While he liked sailing, he decided to try new things.
Recently he joined Volunteering Miami, the online platform created by Palmetto students that connects local businesses with student volunteers. He’s working on the communications team.
Wencelblat is a member of the National Honor Society, treasurer of Spanish National Honor Society, and president of Philosophy Club.
For college, Wencelblat is looking out-of-state. He’s considering a business major. His interest in business is bolstered by his membership in the Finance Club.
“We talk a lot about stocks,” he says. “But also, companies when it comes to entrepreneurship and how investing works.”
Club members trade stocks with fake money and they have participated in business competitions, including one sponsored by the Wharton School of Business.
He’s involved with Hearts on Venezuela, translating articles from English to Spanish for the Venezuelan media.
“They were undergoing a crisis and needed translators,” he says.
His parents are from Argentina, so he reads, writes and speaks Spanish fluently.
He’s an Advanced Placement Scholar and a recipient of the Hispanic Scholar Designation, a Hispanic scholarship fund which provides a summer program to help with entry to college for Hispanics that show high academic achievement.
“They chose 480 students out of several thousand entries,” he says.
He’s also doing a summer program from Stanford and MIT on artificial intelligence.
“My Capstone Research project focused on Artificial Intelligence and Religion,” he says.
He’s won the Outstanding Sophomore Award for the area of Spanish Language and Culture 2020 and the Outstanding Junior Award for the area of Language Arts (English) 2021.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
