Last year, once or twice a week, Miami Palmetto High senior Lindsey Drucker visited an autistic ten-year old boy for the Friendship Circle’s Friends at Home program. She plans to continue the visits this school year.
“We go to his house after school,” she says. “We play different interactive games.”
Music is an important part of their visits.
“He’s very interested in classical music.” She says. “If you play one of Mozart’s symphonies, he can recite it.”
Drucker also volunteered last fall with the Pinecrest office of the Democratic Party to help register voters. She passed out registration forms at school, collected them and turned them in to the DNC.
Her dad is active in politics and asked for her help.
Over the years, Drucker’s volunteered as a counselor at the Ransom Everglades summer camp.
She started before eighth grade and has kept on going.
“Next year will be my sixth year,” she says.
The camp offered swimming sailing, sports, arts and crafts, and karate.
“They have an amazing outlet to the ocean. It’s beautiful,” she says. “It’s an amazing way to spend the summer.”
She worked with kids aged four and five and finds them inspiring.
“Anything you say they will take on,” she says. “They are so good to talk to you. I’m a role model and giving them insight. I’m someone to turn to. Some of these kids, they all come from different background and households. Some really need someone who is not from their house hold and it’s an honor to be that person for a kid.”
Drucker has also volunteered at Camp Jenny outside of Atlanta. It’s a camp for underprivileged children that have done well in school.
Currently, Drucker is membership vice president of the Jewish organization, BAFTY. Last year she was the programming vice president.
BAFTY is part of the National Federation of Temple Youth.
“Every spring, winter and fall, there are conventions,” she says. “The spring event was hosted by my temple. Four hundred kids came from the Florida/Atlanta region.”
The teens were hosted by families in the Pinecrest area. As programing vice president, she worked with the regional vice president and president of NIFTY.
“I planned a program, about the theme of the whole,” she says. “It was a map to finding your Jewish identity. It was very successful.”
At Palmetto, Drucker is the president of Interact. The club does community service and puts on the Panthers Got Talent show in the spring. Last year the show raised $3,000 that was donated to St. Jude’s Cancer Research. This school year she hopes to direct the funds to the Alzheimer’s Association.
“My family has been affected,” she says.
Drucker is also a member of the Social Science Honor Society. She’s competed in History Bowl competitions the last two years.
This year, Drucker is the yearbook design editor.
“We use Adobe, In Design, Photoshop, and Illustrator,” she says. “I oversee the design aspect.
That’s my favorite thing to do.”
As a sophomore, she joined the staff as the underclass editor. Her junior year, she was sports editor. But, she realized she wanted to become a designer she taught herself at home how to design.
“I fell in love with design,” she says.
For college, she’s looking at colleges that offer graphic design and marketing.
“I’ve found some programs,” she says. “You can meld graphic design and social awareness. I can combine all of those elements together.”
She hopes to go to a college in the Northeast.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
