Mariano Gama is a rising senior at Palmetto Senior High School. He’s interested in working in event planning as a career.
That the subject of an internship at Scoozi Events he took through the Summer Discovery program in New York.
“It’s like an internship,” he says. “You can pick any field so I selected event planning.”
He lived at the Pace University dorms, while working at Scoozi, a company that organizes weddings, auctions, and galas.
“They plan events, they oversee events,” he says. “It’s going amazingly! I’ve learned about the marketing of events.”
He’s also attended events planned by the company. Gama enjoyed learning about all aspects of event planning, including catering proposals.
“It’s a fun field to work in,” he says. “It’s very creative and playful.”
This is actually his second internship. Last summer he interned at Scappino, an Italian fashion company in Mexico City.
“I was working in merchandising and marketing for the Fall 2018 campaign,” he says.
Gama says he got into event organizing at Palmetto. He transferred to Palmetto from Gulliver the middle of freshman year. He started at Gulliver when he moved to Miami from Mexico in 2016.
“I lived all my life in Mexico, it was a hard move,” he says.
But he found Gulliver was not a good fit for him and he wasn’t enjoying himself there. He believes going to the right school should make you happy.
He was right. When he transferred to Palmetto, he got involved in the drama program.
“Drama has been a big part of my life,” he says.
He credits Drama teacher Robin Barson for helping him.
“She trusted me. In Mexico I did theater,” he says. “She selected me as her assistant director for the first show.”
He was also part of the ensemble for the Drowsy Chaperone and he helped with the tech for shows as well as costume design.
His English teacher gave him an application for yearbook so he joined the staff and is now the incoming managing editor. Not only will he oversee the advertising, he will also oversee the staff alongside the yearbook leadership.
Gama added student council to his list of activities. He applied to work on the special events committee.
“I helped plan homecoming, and pep rallies,” he says. “Through the special events committee, we did a lot of events for the whole school.”
He will continue his student council work as the head of the senate this incoming year.
“I will be working with every chair,” he says. “I’ll be overseeing the events.”
The position of head of the senate is new and was his suggestion.
“Student council president is a big position to take on,” he says. “They always need the extra help. That’s why I came up with the position to oversee the senate.”
He’s the incoming vice president for community service for the National Honor Society.
“Basically, I help NHS members to come up with their projects or if they need help promoting their project,” he says. “We are now working on a big project for NHS.”
Currently he’s undecided on his college major.
“I haven’t decided between fashion merchandising or event planning,” he says. “After this summer I’ll have a good idea.”
He’s also considering hospitality management and marketing.
His college list includes several Florida schools, and universities in California.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
