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Miami Palmetto High School senior Caroline Kinkade earned her Girl Scout Gold Award this year. Kinkade connected her love of swimming with the Junior Orange Bowl Sports Ability Games Swimming Classic with her initiative project, See + Swim.
“The race is for adaptive swimmers,” she says. “I created a video to get more people to participate in the event, to spread the word, and increase participation and awareness about the event.”
The swimming classic portion of the Sports Ability Games normally has low participation rates but because of COVID, there were fewer participants than normal. So, she had to reach out further to get more kids to the swim competition because Miami-Dade Public Schools couldn’t send swimmers because of COVID guidelines.
“Many private schools and clubs were still participating,” she says. “I sent my video to more than 150 clubs, schools, and families.”
She says this was a one-time problem because of the pandemic.
“That’s why I had to reach out beyond them,” she says. “With their participation again in coming years, participation will continue to improve. I got a lot of help from the Down Syndrome Association.”
Originally her goal was to double the number of participants from previous years but that was before COVID disrupted things. Despite that they still increased the numbers from previous years.
She also collected goggles, purchased swim caps and put the Swimming Classic Junior Orange Bowl logo on the caps.
One of the requirements of a Gold Award project is that it be sustainable. Kinkade is passing her project on to the Junior Orange Bowl Youth Ambassadors. She plans to attend as often as she can.
“I love kids, I love swimming, it’s enjoyable for me to go,” she says.
She’s been swimming since she was little because she comes from a family of swimmers. She joined the Palmetto swim team her freshman year.
“That year I also discovered water polo,” Kinkade says. “I focus now on water polo. Water polo is my true passion.”
In fact, while she’s on the swim team, she swims as training for water polo season.
“I go to practices and I swim laps,” she says. “Swimming laps gets me in shape for water polo.”
She’s been swimming the 200-freestyle relay for the swim team.
Last school year, COVID knocked water polo off the schedule. This year, the sport is back and Kinkade was chosen as one of the water polo captains.
Kinkade is a member of the National Honor Society and the Science National Honor Society. She’s also the photo editor of the yearbook. She spent two years as a photographer and now she’s in her second year as photo editor.
“I’m creating schedules to make sure all the events are photographed,” she says. “I’m going out to events, to oversee and take pictures.”
Last year, the yearbook team put together a unique yearbook. She’s happy that they were able to put everything together so well under the circumstances.
She’s always enjoyed taking pictures. For the yearbook, she takes a lot of candid shots, but outside of yearbook, she likes to take more scenic photos and photos of her friends.
Her college list includes the University of Miami, the University of Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Tulane and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Her major is still undecided but she’s looking into communications and psychology as possibilities.
“I definitely know that in the future I want to pursue something with children,” she says. “I want to make a difference in children’s lives.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
