As a vice president of Students Offering Support (SOS), Palmetto High School junior Flynn Seckinger is busy planning events and making sure members of the community service club fulfill their obligations.
She personally coordinates volunteers for the community events the club has committed to help staff. The club helps more than 12 organizations, including the Bereavement Center 5K Run, the Fairchild Tropical Gardens Gala, and Shake-a-Leg beach clean-up, and the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.
“There is also serving dinner to the residents at Chapman Partnership for the Homeless,” she says. “We do that annually.”
Among their other annual events, SOS organizes a garage sale to benefit the Partnership and hosts a Holiday Party for the children at the homeless shelter.
“We provide the residents with toiletries and pajamas at the annual holiday party,” she says. “Also, all the revenue of the garage sale benefits the shelter.”
For the past couple of years, they have been working primarily with the same organizations but because of an increase in membership, they sought new volunteer opportunities. Seckinger searched for additional events at the request of the SOS president.
“I’ve introduced new ones,” she says. “I thought of organizations that were similar to what we had.”
One of the newer events is the Beaux Arts Student Showcase and packing meals for Feed the Starving Children.
Seckinger puts coordinates with the professional staff members, creates sign ups and communicates with everyone their assignments and all information needed to help the events run smoothly.
“If they cancel, they have to find someone to replace them if it’s less than 48 hours,” she says. “If it’s more than 48 hours, I can find someone to replace them.”
She takes her responsibilities seriously, because she wants the organizations to ask SOS to participate again the next year.
She’s been a member of SOS since freshman year. New members are recommended by existing members, asked to fill out applications, and those whose applications are accepted, are chosen by existing members to join. SOS members come from ten different public and private schools.
Last year, Seckinger was the host for the club’s big event, Bowling Against Bullying.
“Every year they raise around $2,000 and donate it to the Melissia Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment,” she says.
Seckinger says she’s proud to be part of SOS because she’s able to help people and donate money to places like the Chapman Partnership for the Homeless and the Melissa Institute.
As vice president, she says she’s learned how to plan and how to be more organized. She’s also learned how to work with others.
At Palmetto, she’s a three letter varsity athlete. She’s on the soccer team, the badminton team and the cross-country team. She played soccer and ran cross-country her freshman year and joined the badminton team playing girls’ doubles her sophomore year. Her main sport is soccer.
This year, the soccer team went to the GMAC and made it to the semi-finals. They won their district 2 years in a row but lost in the regionals.
In cross-country they made it to districts.
Seckinger is teacher appreciation chair for Student Council and Interact treasurer.
“We host a talent show and we raise money for St. Jude’s Hospital,” she says. “We raised around $3000 for the hospital.”
She’s also events editor for the yearbook.
“I make spreads and design the spreads for events the whole year,” she says.
She’s a volunteer for the academic enrichment program, Breakthrough Miami. She goes some Saturdays and during the summer to work with underprivileged children.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
