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At the Miami Palmetto High School Junior Class awards ceremony this spring, rising senior Gabriela Hernandez received the PAW Award for student involvement.
Hernandez participates in many extracurricular activities, including student council. She’s also starting her own community service project called Voice US.
She wants to make the voices of the survivors of human trafficking heard.
“It’s starting off as a media account on Instagram,” she says. “There is no outreach for human trafficking survivors at Palmetto.”
The account is already up but she is getting more research done so she can post more information about recent occurrences.
“And stories of people,” she says. “They can choose to do it anonymously.”
She plans to have information about help lines and help centers.
She says she’s heard counselors have said that there are survivors of human trafficking at Palmetto.
“They are students my age and there is no one advocating for them,” she says.
Hernandez also wants to help students become aware of the problem, so they don’t become victims.
She plans to manage the media account and events.
“I’m a part of Amnesty International,” she says. “I’ll be doing it through there.”
She plans to have small events that the survivors can attend.
“During lunch we have tables set up for clubs,” she says. “They could also come to those.”
She became interested in human trafficking issues because of the Amnesty International Club, where they have talked about the problem.
Hernandez is concerned that human trafficking victims don’t get the help they deserve. And it’s a problem in Miami.
In the meantime, she’s been learning more about human trafficking during her internship at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
“I am an assistant to the head attorney at the human trafficking division,” Hernandez says.
The internship was scheduled for seven weeks. She works at the courthouse.
“I get to see judges and case trials,” she says.
She also does research. She’s familiar with researching cases because she worked at the office of attorney Teresa Maria Alvarez as an intern.
Hernandez says the office mostly handles family law, bankruptcy, wills, real estate and traffic court.
“They told me to apply to the State Attorney’s Office,” she says.
The internships are perfect for her since she wants to become an attorney. She’s still not sure what kind of law she wants to do. She’s interested in criminal law, public health law, and hospital law.
She’s interested in laws that deal with hospitals because her brother wants to become a doctor.
“I want to do different internships,” she says.
So far, her college application list includes the University of Miami, the University of Chicago, Emory, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Hernandez wants to stay on the East Coast for college if possible.
She will be vice president of Amnesty International her senior year. The club writes letter at club meetings, tackling issues such as crimes against humanity, abortion rights and gun violence.
She’s also the chair of the student council staff appreciation committee. She’s in charge of coordinating monthly events for teachers.
She’s also a member of the National Honor Society and the English Honor Society.
During COVID shutdowns, Hernandez volunteered at Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
“I did a food drive for them, for people who couldn’t get food resources,” she says. “I handed out milk, vegetables, and pre-prepped foods.”
For two years, she volunteered at a clinic Miami Podiatry. She often translated when the doctor needed to talk to an elderly Spanish speaking client.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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