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Palmetto High School rising senior Sofia Gutierrez recently worked on raising awareness of needs of children who have Cerebral Palsy. She served as a community liaison for an event organized by Samantha’s Purpose, an organization that sponsors a yearly walk-a-thon.
“People could donate or be a participant,” she says. “My job was to spread awareness through Palmetto.”
The walk-a-thon was struggling for participants so she made flyers and spread the word at school. The child who was chosen as the recipient of the walk-a-thon proceeds is a teen who is confined to a wheelchair.
“The goal this year was to buy the family a new wheelchair accessible van,” Gutierrez says.
“That’s where most of the money went for the donations.”
In the summer, she usually volunteers at the Alexander Montessori summer camp program.
She arrives early, around 9 a.m. to set up the day’s activities. After that, she and other counselors in training walked the children to their classes. She’d go with the kids to their swimming lessons and then help them dry off and get dressed. Gutierrez would help with lunch and at the end of the day she’d pack things up and get things cleaned up.
“I really enjoy it,” she says. “I’ve been doing it since I was 13. I went there. I remember going to camp and I remembered how fun it was. Ever since I was little, I wanted to work at the camp.”
This summer she’s working with her friend Robert Acosta on a new venture.
“We are looking to build a project where we can teach tennis,” she says. “We’re speaking with managers of parks looking for courts.”
They were honing in on the courts at Continental Park in Kendall.
“There are already kids that go there for summer camp. We were going to see if there could be an after camp. These kids stay after.”
She and Acosta would give them free tennis lessons.
“We hope to work with any from 15-20 kids,” she says. “There are eight courts that would be available. We’re probably only get four of them. There will be kids doing drills, there are a bunch of things that they can do that are tennis like but not necessarily private lessons.”
Gutierrez is on the Palmetto Girls’ Varsity team. In April, the girls’ team placed second in the 4A division at the State Championship.
“I think we were on track to win last year and then COVID happened,” she says. “Our team was really hungry for it.”
Gutierrez also plays USTA tournaments three weeks out of the month. She practices six to seven days a week anywhere from one to four hours a day.
When it comes to tennis, she says Florida is a very competitive state.
Her goal for college is to go to a Division II or III school and focus on academics while still playing,
“I’m looking to get an academic scholarship,” she says.
She and her coach are starting to email college coaches and she will participate in several showcases this summer.
“You can still have the same competitive fun at a lower division,” she says.
She is considering two possible career paths. One in sports management. The other path is international business and where she’d travel a lot. She’s interested in a minor in foreign language where she could have a year where she studies abroad.
Some of the colleges she’s considering include the University of Tampa, and the University of Texas at Dallas. She’s also looking at the Northeast where there are Division III schools.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
