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Miami Palmetto High School rising senior Maddie Sakalo won the Panther of Distinction Award at the end-of-the-year awards ceremony. The award is for community involvement and academic achievement.
Sakalo has a non-profit handmade bracelet business called Made by Maddie. The profits are donated to the organization Hands to Love. She’s been working with Hands to Love since middle school. Over the last two years she’s donated over $3000 to them.
“I love making these bracelets and making a difference,” she says. “I’ve been creating the bracelets since early middle school.”
At one point she was also selling necklaces and conducted four used books sales but decided to switch to mainly bracelet sales.
She’s been involved with the group because of the work they do. It’s an organization that supports children who have upper limb differences (a variation in the appearance or development of a limb).
“I’ve never met anyone else with it. It’s been an incredible experience to find that organization.”
Sakalo was born with six fingers on her right hand and needed several surgeries by a hand specialist to combine the extra thumb with the remaining thumb.
She has full use of her right hand.
“I’m thankful for full use of my hand,” she says. “I can enjoy different arts and crafts, sports, and physical activities.”
After her surgeries she did physical therapy. Even now, she does hand exercises.
Sakalo was recently elected the communications/fundraising director for the 2024-2025 Regional Board of BBYO (B’nai B’rith Youth Organization). She just stepped down as vice president of the chapter at the Alper Jewish Community Center. She’s also been president.
“I cherish the whole sisterhood aspect,” she says. “I love how I can hang out with a bunch of Jewish teens and do all these fun activities.”
Being in BBYO also expands her circle of friends to other Jewish teens around Miami. She’s attended BBYO conference since eighth grade and she’s been planning and programming conferences since tenth grade for both the chapter and the region.
Sakalo is a tutor for Tutoring for Tomorrow. She tutors on all subjects for elementary and middle school.
On Sundays, she’s a pre-school teacher at Temple Judea.
“I work with the two-and-three-year-olds,” she says.
She teaches the toddlers how to interact with the other kids, elements of Judaism and all about holidays.
“It’s been wonderful watching them grow from the beginning of the year,” she says.
Closer to home, she’s secretary of the Palmetto Bay Youth Council.
“I was one of chairs for a toy drive. We collected four large loads of toys to donate to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. We put in all the work to create flyers and we were collecting toys at Palmetto Bay Village Hall.”
She’s also worked on creating awareness of the Atala Butterfly, the Palmetto Bay butterfly.
“One of the council members brought it to the youth committee and asked us to take interest and promote it,” she says. “We are working on creating videos and planting plants that help the growth of the butterfly.”
At school, she’s the historian for Interact.
“We do community service and raise awareness for projects club members want to start,” she says.
She’s also a member of the National Honor Society and Rho Kappa.
Sakalo is the business manager of the school yearbook. She was the academics editor for the 2023-2024 yearbook.
“I love both the design and organization,” she says. “Both sophomore and junior years, I dealt with editing.”
She’s eager to use her leadership skills to help run the financial and organizational side of the yearbook.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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