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Westminster Christian School senior Nina Valdes is vice president of the organization Cooking for a Cause. She and President Carli Schmidt did a recent fundraiser, collecting gift cards from Publix to give the teen moms attending Dorothy M. Wallace Cope Center a chance to enhance their cooking skills for not only themselves but for their children as well.
“We raised over $600 and went to Publix to purchase all the ingredients for the schools’ cooking class,” she says.
Each girl got personalized bags filled with the ingredients so they could cook breakfast and with utensils to take home.
“So they could learn to cook meals for their children,” Valdes says. “The club’s whole motive is to provide relief to those in need.”
Last year, they provided Thanksgiving meals for Hurricane Ian victims.
“So many students volunteered to cook meals for the families affected by the hurricane.” she says. “I provided five meals for five different families. It was a very successful drive.”
The meals included sides like green bean casseroles, rice, beans, and desserts, that could be frozen and taken to the family.
Earlier this year they conducted a utensil drive for the Chapman Partnership for the Homeless.
Valdes says they do one or two big projects a year.
Cooking is just one of Valdes’ skills. She illustrated a picture book written by fellow Westminster student Ryan Ramos called Peter Learns a Lesson. It was part of a community service project Ramos worked on.
Valdes loves to help kids. She’s a member of the Smiles for All club. They go to the Dominican Republic and work with an orphanage.
“This year, we are going to an orphanage and building a garden for them to enjoy,” she says. “Last year the club went and built a playground.”
That will be her third mission trip. The other trips were also to the Dominican Republic, but they were through Blue Missions.
Valdes has done both missions offered by Blue Missions. She built latrines and she worked to provide water to a village.
“They are totally different trips, but both are equally important,” she says.
In order to provide water, the teens dig trenches and put in pipes, usually down a mountain.
“It’s one of the most physically challenging things I’ve done in my life,” she says.
On the other trip, they built 15 latrines.
“You get to meet each family and see who you are building bathrooms for,” she says. “It’s less physically demanding but both are so equally rewarding.”
She took the trips in the summer of 2022 and 2023.
“I loved it,” she says. “You see a whole different side of the world. I’m so grateful to have gone. I wish everyone could have the opportunity to experience it.”
In fact, she’d love to get her whole family on a mission.
“You really don’t know what it’s like until you go,” she says.
At school, she’s a member of the National Honor Society, the National Art Honor Society, Rho Kappa, the National Dance Honor Society and the Science National Honor Society.
She’s been on the varsity cheerleading squad since freshman year.
Her art has brought her recognition.
“I won first and third place at Westminster’s Art Fair,” she says. “I received an honorable mention from Scholastic.”
She also received an Award of Excellence at the FAEA exhibition.
Valdes has been accepted to Florida International University and Southern Methodist University. She’s waiting to hear from the University of Florida, the University of Tampa and the University of Miami. She’s undecided, with an interest in becoming a physician’s assistant, or a teacher.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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