South Florida student leaders give back to the community

MIAMI — A handful of young people in South Florida spent their time off over the summer as student leaders.
Nine high school juniors and seniors were selected to participate in an eight-week paid internship program through which they gained practical experience through community service.
The students, from Broward and Miami-Dade schools, were chosen from among hundreds to be leaders and gain life-learning skills. As a part of Bank of America’s student leadership program, they are learning skills they need to succeed later in life and are setting an example for their peers.
“We did a mission trip with Blue Missions. It’s a Miami-based company, where they recruit students to partake in a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, either to build latrines for under-resourced communities, or to help them gain a sustainable water source,” said Nicolas Castillo, 17, a student at Mast Academy. 
Rocio Pena is a Venezuelan immigrant who attends Doral Academy, and her mission is to give back and help.
“Helping my community is a really big thing for me because I want to help as many people that went through the same things as me,” said Pena.
Alejandro Paes-Sansonetti is a recent graduate of Coral Reef High School whose passion is science and people.
“I’ve had the opportunity to help the community while develop a few of my own projects here,” he said. “It’s been a great experience either fighting the food insecurity, helping the camp Y,” said Sansonetti. 
Mikaela Robaina, a junior at Miami Arts Studio, is using her love for journalism to educate others.
“My junior year I started a community service project, focused on introducing comprehensive broadcast journalism education in elementary schools to help with declining media literacy and just literacy rates in general. Part of that is also providing students in these Title I schools with resources on how to apply into secondary and high school so they can also get all of these amazing opportunities that I had,” said Robaina.
In late July, the students and others from across the country traveled to Washington, D.C., for a week-long, all-expenses-paid, national leadership summit to learn how nonprofits, governments and businesses work together. The leadership program is in its 20th year, and so far 100 Miami students have completed it. 
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