|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Miami Palmetto High School junior Gianna Trailor goes to Carver Elementary School each Wednesday to work with the children in the Art Club.
“I make little activities for them, especially around the holidays,” she says. “They are usually around kindergarten and first graders. There aren’t many fourth or fifth graders.”
She comes up with the ideas, and she gathers the materials.
“I’ll do my own version and then I go over with them step by step what we are doing that day,” she says.
For St. Patrick’s Day, she made a stamp rainbow, and the kids colored the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
She chose to volunteer at Carver because she attended the school and her mother works there.
“It’s always nice going back,” she says. “The teachers always say hi. The janitor too. I’ve been doing it since the start of this year.”
Trailor loves art. She’s been painting since she was in elementary school. Before she started high school, she took art classes but now she paints as a side hobby.
“In the beginning I only did acrylic,” she says. “It was only about two years ago I discovered oil painting. I saw people were painting realistic paintings. I got water-based oil paint. You can achieve more with oil paint than acrylic because acrylic dries so fast.”
She’s open to painting a variety of subjects. She’ll use reference photos that she loves. But she likes to paint portraits the most.
“I usually like to make gifts for my family,” she says. “I think it’s really a personal gift. I usually like to work small portraits but from time to time I’ll do a big portrait.”
Trailor tutors for the student run organization Tutoring for Tomorrow. They not only tutor for pay, with half going back to the organization to be donated to charity, they also go to Palmetto Elementary once a week and tutor children for an hour.
The teens often work with fourth graders that have math or reading homework.
“There is one girl, she loves me,” Trailor says. “Every time I work on Thursday, she greets me with a hug. She’s Colombian, and I’m Columbian. She’ll talk, talk, talk. I love hearing her words. She’s so funny!”
Tutoring for Tomorrow tutors also work with high school students on Wednesday after school.
“It’s free tutoring for high schoolers who need help,” she says.
She also has three personal clients that she receives compensation for.
“I usually have my personal clients, the same three clients,” she says. “At the elementary school, I tutor the kids that show up.”
She likes tutoring and feels connected to teaching.
“My whole family is a teacher family,” she says. “My grandma was a school superintendent in Provincetown.”
At school she is a member of the class cabinet and helps with Class of ’25 events.
“I try to represent the school and show school spirit,” she says. “You spend your time at the events, and you make sure you participate in the activities of your school.”
She is an athlete, playing badminton doubles. This is her first year on the well-respected Palmetto team.
While Trailor loves art, she also loves biology and Science and STEM classes. Her plan is to go into the Science field and minor in Art.
“It all depends on what college I go to and how it works,” she says.
She has already visited Northeastern and Tufts University and she had a visit to Boston College scheduled for spring break. Boston University is also a potential school for her.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
ABOUT US:
For more Miami community news, look no further than Miami Community Newspapers. This Miami online group of newspapers covers a variety of topics about the local community and beyond. Miami’s Community Newspapers offers daily news, online resources, podcasts and other multimedia content to keep readers informed. With topics ranging from local news to community events, Miami’s Community Newspapers is the ideal source for staying up to date with the latest news and happenings in the area.
This family-owned media company publishes more than a dozen neighborhood publications, magazines, special sections on their websites, newsletters, as well as distributing them in print throughout Miami Dade County from Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Brickell, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, South Miami, Kendall, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay and Homestead. Each online publication and print editions provide comprehensive coverage of local news, events, business updates, lifestyle features, and local initiatives within its respective community.
Additionally, the newspaper has exclusive Miami community podcasts, providing listeners with an in-depth look into Miami’s culture. Whether you’re looking for local Miami news, or podcasts, Miami’s Community Newspapers has you covered. For more information, be sure to check out: https://communitynewspapers.com.
If you have any questions, feel free to email Michael@communitynewspapers.com or Grant@communitynewspapers.com.
