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Senior Lucas Levy is Miami Palmetto High School’s Silver Knight nominee for Athletics. He’s a member of the Palmetto Golf team, which qualified for the State Championships for the first time ever.
“I love the game of golf,” he says. “I spend close to 20 hours a week on golf. There is no inclusivity.”
So, Levy is working to change that. His Silver Knight project is called Driving for Inclusivity. He’s been doing it for about two years now, having taken over the program started by a friend. He works with students attending Palmetto’s special needs program.
“The project mission is to expand the game of golf to a greater community,” he says. “I teach students with special needs golf. We have an Instagram where I post tips and other videos.
They are for everyone, but posted on the Drive for Inclusivity page.”
With the Palmetto special needs student, they go out to the field during a school day with volunteers and teach the students how to play golf, and they do tournaments.
Some of the students he’s taught have participated in the Special Olympics.
Currently, he has five volunteers. Most are from Palmetto, one is at Belen, with another potential volunteer at Westminster Christian School. They are talking with folks at the Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center about expanding the program there.
The instruction days are planned but are also flexible to take into consideration the needs of the special needs kids on the instruction day.
“Typically, I take the entire class – somewhere between 15-30 students, depends on the day.” Levy says. “We teach how to swing clubs, we communicate, we do hands-on instruction. At the end of the day, we might have a competition to see who is more consistent in hitting the ball. Something that leaves a lasting impact. We also go to foster events.”
Levy has been involved in golf for three years.
“It’s become a passion of mine,” he says. “I want to make sure everyone can play golf and enjoy it.”
They schedule events at Top Golf, the big driving range that is also known as a hangout spot.
“They have simulators at every driving range bay,” Levy says. “They have different games like Angry Birds. It’s a great learning experience.”
Levy has also scheduled events there with kids from a foster home.
Levy has been working with the management of two golf courses in hopes of hosting Special Olympics-type events there.
In his spare time, Levy is working on earning his private pilot’s license. He is interested in majoring in Aircraft Engineering, Auto Engineering or Finance.
Levy has already been accepted to Clemson University. His application list includes the University of Florida, the University of North Carolina, Georgia Tech University, Virginia Tech University, UCLA and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
At school, Levy is president of the National Honor Society. This year, he founded the first National Business Honor Society, which is intertwined with the Finance Club. He’s vice president of the Finance Club. He’s historian of the Jewish Student Union and an officer of the Special Events Senate Group.
“I do a lot of the planning for pep rallies, prom events, and Panther spirit events,” he says.
Outside of school, he’s a member of the Temple Beth Am Social Justice Fellowship.
“We have been on three service trips,” he says.
Last school year, they went to Guatemala. The upcoming trip will be to the Dominican Republic, where they will build latrines.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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