Senior Shelley Robinson started a campaign at Palmer Trinity to host a Miracle League of Miami-Dade game. The Miracle League is similar to Little League, but it is for children who are physically and mentally disabled. They have games at ball fields around the county while they work to build their own facility.
“They didn’t have a place for the November game so I organized one at my high school,” she says. “It will be on Nov. 15.”
Organizing the game, coordinating with the school and the league and finding the volunteers has taken up much of her free time.
“My plan is to involve the various sports teams,” she says. “I’m the captain of the varsity cheerleading team. I’m getting my team to volunteer.
The baseball and softball teams will be helping out. The cheerleaders are going to cheer on the players.”
Robinson says they have a 25-member cheer team so they will divide up the duties.
“The senior class (cheerleaders) will be baseball buddies,” she says. “The younger members will be there to cheer on the players. In the past, they have had the cheerleaders and the little kids memorized by the pom poms. We’re going to create a tunnel for them to run through.”
Robinson also started a club at Palmer Trinity for the Miracle League.
“In the club right now we have about 25 members who signed up at the beginning of the year,” she says. “I’m expecting a few more volunteers when we bring in the sports teams. There weren’t a lot of boys who signed up, but when I spoke to the boys’ teams they were very interested.”
Robinson is expecting to have approximately 40 volunteers come out for the game.
“One of the reasons to start the club is to raise money for the field,” she says.
She got involved with the Miracle League because a close family friend is one the of League’s officers.
“I thought it would be so rewarding. I ended up falling in love with seeing the children smile and laugh at the end of the game and seeing them come out of their shell as the game progressed,” she says. “It is nice to see how something so small as running around a baseball diamond can make them so excited and happy.”
At Palmer Trinity, she’s co-president of the Pink Warriors Club, which raises awareness for breast cancer. “We have various activities planned,” she says.
“We have a volleyball game planned and we are charging admission.”
Raising awareness of breast cancer is important to her because her mom beat breast cancer last year.
Robinson also is a member of the Center for Writing, helping middle school and underclassmen with writing assignments. Outside of school, her community service includes volunteering St. Thomas Episcopal Parish School for the past four summers at the Fine Arts Camp.
“I’ve worked with the incoming kindergarteners,” she says. “The camp is a mix of dance, art and acting. Every week they have a theme. At the end there is a show.”
She is a member of the community service organizations Twenty Little Working Girls and Symphonettes. Symphonettes usher local music concerts and symphonies. Twenty Little Working Girls raises money for donation to various organizations such as Touching Miami With Love.
Robinson’s college list includes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt, the University of Virginia and Duke University.
She is considering premed and hopes to become a dentist or an oral surgeon.
By Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
