On May 15, Miami Palmetto Senior High School hosted its annual Underclassmen Awards ceremony, hosted by MPSH Student Council President Abigail Lambert and Vice President Devica Shah. Following a brief pause on an in-person ceremony due to COVID-19, MPSH brought indoor ceremonies to the newly-renovated auditorium this year.

Nominated students brought two guests and went home with either a medal or a plaque.

In the weeks prior to the event, students completed a form in order to highlight their academic achievements, community service endeavors, leadership roles and any additional information that made them stand out. From there, a committee decided which students would receive an award.

“Each department picks their award recipients. The committee as a whole picks the leadership recipients, the PAW award recipients, all those different recipients. Each sponsor picks their ‘Of the Year recipient,’” MPSH Activities Director Elizabeth Valero said.

Each student was introduced with a couple of sentences highlighting their accomplishments and personality traits before receiving their award.

Students could win awards in subjects that they excelled in, highlighted their community service and that demonstrated the kindness they show toward their peers, among others.

Listed below are all of the students who received awards.

Book Awards

Tulane University – Isabella Diez

Yale University – Alastair Page

Harvard University – Alexa Fein

Princeton University – Isabel Duran

Rensselaer Polytechnic University – Sunny You

Barnard College – Cameron Gussin

PTSA Leadership Awards

Christopher Green (9)

Prince Smith (9)

Paulina Handal (10)

Madison Williams (10)

Ava Graziano (10)

Vance Schroeder (11)

Princess Smiley (11)

Ella Pelz (11)

Catherine Green (11)

Clayton Detant (11)

PTSA Service Awards

Katie Woo (9)

Lilah Suarez (9)

O’Neill Cooper (9)

Maddie Sakalo (10)

Katarina Cepero (10)

Madeline Volpe (10)

Julius Talas (11)

Joshua Lipson (11)

Alexandria Browne (11)

Kate Markus (11)

Ryan Potash (11)

Isaiah Salomon (11)

Emily Prado (11)

Sofia Portugal (11)

PAW Awards

Juliette MacFarland (9)

Zoey Brin (9)

Stefania Militello (9)

Taylor Bouchard (9)

Alexis Cohen (10)

Aiden Barreras (10)

Hannah Samole-Prager (10)

Kaylee Massipe (10)

Shira Rosenberg (10)

Daniela Martinez (11)

Sydney Oren (11)

Justis Frank (11)

Jasmine Judge (11)

Juan Galarza (11)

Melisa Tunon (11)

Catalina Forwood (11)

Olga Padilla (11)

Priya Jones (11)

Core Values Award

Matthew Mitchell (9)

Solomon Gordon (9)

Ava Oren (9)

Zachary Bales (10)

Alessandra Falcon (10)

Scott Gould (10)

Emilia Haus (10)

Sofia Strohmeier (11)

Tyler Shapiro (11)

Gianna Graziano (11)

Juliana Tascon Sarasti (11)

Sophia Graff (11)

Daniel Perodin (11)

Joshua Siegal (11)

Sara Kramer (11)

Achievement Award

Joseph Del-Valle (9)

Andrew Dones (10)

Sofia Millheiser (11)

Art Award

Annika Adamo (9)

Ruby Hadley (10)

Nicole Gonglewski (11)

Capstone Award

Indeah Lane (9)

Kevin Rojo (10)

Owen Morris (11)

Dance Award

Victoria Codias (9)

Emma Costa (10)

Aysia Tenn-Yuk (11)

Drama Award

Yitzchak Shapiro (9)

Nadiv Shapiro (9)

Sophia Barlow (9)

Zachary Kowal (10)

Sofia Arnau (10)

Olivia Greenwald (10)

Alison Arnold (11)

Sienna Mesquita (11)

Joseph Chichoni (11)

Family Consumer Science Award

Haylee Cote (10)

Ashley Marquez (11)

Forensic Investigative Academy Award

Brooke Barnett (9)

Brooke Wilensky (10)

Ruben Behar (11)

Foreign Language Award

Abbey Skoko (9)

Cecilia Merchanmendes (9)

Lucas Bagorda (10)

Loik-Victo Kasongo (10)

Estefania Cerna (11)

Nancy Zheng (11)

Immersion Award 

Brenda Manning (9)

Kokoro Akasaki (10)

Camila Betancourt (11)

Health Science Award

Paige Zipse (9)

Eddie Rodriguez (10)

Aryana Motlagh (11)

IPrep Award

Sophia Rosado (9)

Ethan Lopez (10)

Marissa Amador (11)

Language Arts Award

Edie Carneiro (9)

Alexis James (10)

Dahlia Harris (11)

Mathematics Award

Natalie Quintela (9)

Sabina Khizroev (10)

Sunny You (11)

Music Instrument Award

Sabrina Donet (9)

Dylan Michael (10)

Angelina Diaz (11)

Newspaper Award

Gabriela Alvarez (9)

Sara Paredes (10)

Amy-Grace Shapiro (11)

Science Award

Janie Cai (9)

Jean Blandon (10)

Jack Proulx (11)

Social Science Award

Annika Adamo (9)

Haylee Hanson (10)

Nicole Gonglewski (11)

Television Production Award

Alex Perodin (9)

Lucas Anson (10)

Justin Corman (11)

Yearbook Award

Ruby Pelz (9)

Isabella Koler (10)

Cassandra Pita (11)

Panthers on the Move Award

Golden Brown (9)

Devon McIntyre (9)

Ethan Padilla (9)

Andie Gussin (9)

Mia Shields (10)

Ava Stuzin (10)

Jaya Castro (10)

Katarina Slazas (10)

Panthers of Distinction Award

Emma Behar (11)

Ziyah McGriff (11)

Anna Levitt (11)

Kylie Zimelman (11)

Lukas Goldenberg (11)

Diego Ortiz (11)

Kayla Ram (11)

Freshman of the Year

Daniel Mazer

Sophomore of the Year

Sydney Lambert

Junior of the Year

Lorenzo Castillo-Rios