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Miami Palmetto High School senior Logan Jellson had the unique opportunity to participate in J Serve, a program sponsored by the Great Miami Jewish Federation and
the NAACP.
“We would have monthly meetings to decide community service projects,” he says. “We went to a homeless shelter, and we had a guest speaker tell us about his homeless
experience.”
The J Serve members, a mix of teens from both organizations, made food and fed the
people at the Chapman Partnership for the Homeless in downtown Miami.
Working with J Serve has helped Jellson appreciate what he has and not take anything for granted.
“I learned that there are a bunch of ways to help the community,” he says. “In the
meetings, it was choosing a specific thing to do. There were 10 or more projects. I didn’t
realize there were so many ways to help.”
Until COVID he also participated in an event called Everything But the Turkey, a
program sponsored by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation,. The goal was to gather
the foods needed to give needy families Thanksgiving dinner. Volunteers gathered at a
temple to put together the food.
“We made all the sides, pumpkin pie, stuffing, everything except for the turkey,” he
says. “We gave it to the main people who boxed with a piece of turkey. That was from
seventh grade to right before COVID.”
Another way he helps others is by volunteering for Achieve Miami. He enjoys working
with the Little Buddies and helping them improve their reading and writing skills.
One of the best parts of working with the kids is seeing their faces when they are
reading.
“They are so excited every week,” he says. “It’s the highlight of their weekend.”
He tries to attend as many of the Saturday sessions as he can.
Jellson and his brother started a landscaping and car wash business with the start of the pandemic. They donated some of their profits to Feeding South Florida.
“We were just sitting around, and our neighbor asked us to mow his lawn, and then
another neighbor,” he says. “Our aunt asked us to wash her car and so we started car
washing.”
Jellson plays first base for the Palmetto varsity. He started playing at age six at Howard
Palmetto Baseball Softball Association, moved on to play for a travel team and continued on by trying out for the Palmetto team.
He tried out for the junior varsity team his sophomore year where he broke his arm in two places diving for a ball.
Then over the summer he broke his hand catching a ball.
“It was crazy,” he says.
After some physical therapy, he recovered enough to be able to play spring baseball but
not fall ball.
This year he’s playing fall baseball. Which is good because college scouts sometimes
attend fall games to check out talent. He’s interested in playing college ball, but it depends on whether he would receive a scholarship.
His extracurricular actives include being a member of the English Honor Society. He likes to write and is particular interested in non-fiction. He even likes writing college essays.
He is applying to the University of Michigan, the University of Florida, the University of
Wisconsin, the University of North Carolina and the University of Texas. He is going in
as undecided on a major. Jellson thinks he’ll probably opt for a business related major.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
To see more #Miaminews from #Aventura to #Coralgables to #SouthMiami, #Pinecrest, #Palmetto Bay and #Cutler Bay and all throughout #Miamidadecounty go to:
www.communitynewspapers.com
