MUSIC AND DANCE: Myles Messinger
Being nominated for a Silver Knight is a significant honor in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. It indicates that someone has made a big change in the community, and they did it with pride. Miami Palmetto Senior High senior and Silver Knight Music and Dance nominee Myles Messinger serves as an example of these hardworking students.
Messinger has played the clarinet since he was seven years old and performed in numerous music programs throughout his school years. He has also participated in festivals and competitions, such as the Florida Bandmasters Association Solo and Ensemble Competition Festival. He was also selected for the 2025 Superintendent’s Honors Festival All-County Senior High School Band. However, he was first introduced to music through the influence of past generations.
“My dad plays the piano, and he plays the guitar. He had all these instruments around the house, and we would sit in there for like hours, and he’d be playing. So then one day, he handed me a clarinet, and he said, ‘Why don’t you try? I think you’ll like it.’ He was the music man. He basically gave his talent to me,” Messinger said.
Messinger’s community impact extends beyond his musical ability, as he helps senior citizens gain technological intelligence. His project, the Miami Digital Literacy project, is a nonprofit corporation based in Florida. Its mission is to educate students, adults and senior citizens on digital literacy. Messinger and his team ensure greater safety for senior citizens by assisting them with certain aspects of technology.
“Digital Literacy has many categories. It involves utilizing the internet, like internet safety, passwords, digital organization, artificial intelligence and there’s a lot more to it, but that’s primarily why we organize monthly workshops at the Pinecrest Community Center,” Messinger said.
Messinger originally got this idea from his own experience when entering high school, where he lacked digital literacy skills due to the lack of a curriculum in his middle school. He did not want that to be an issue for future students, so he initiated change by suggesting the education of digital literacy in schools so students could maintain this knowledge and stay safe.
“My grade was missing some of the skills that we should have learned in middle school, when it comes to digital organizations. We entered high school, and our understanding of the concept was really minimal. [Advanced Placement World History teacher] Ms. Farkas and I worked together and discovered that this was a problem,” Messinger said.
Messinger encouraged schools to make the necessary changes by travelling and presenting his ideas to them, which eventually led to greater impact. To achieve this, Messinger and his team researched essential digital literacy information and formed engaging presentations for students.
“We suggested a four to five-module curriculum that addressed things like Internet safety, passwords, typing organization, digital organization, email etiquette, AI, the do’s and don’ts and we successfully did that here in high school,” Messinger said.
The Miami Digital Literacy project has been met with success in the local community and has helped improve senior citizens’ use of technology in Miami. Messinger has high hopes for the project in the future, as he wishes to continue it after high school.
SCIENCE: Golden Brown
Senior and Silver Knight Science nominee Golden Brown crochets wildlife from the ocean and donates proceeds from her artistic creations.
“I donate the profit to a Coral Reef Restoration Foundation in Islamorada in the Keys, and they use the money to farm coral and repopulate the reefs that are struggling right now,” Brown said.
What sparked Brown’s idea was a natural disaster that occurred at her grandparents’ house, leading her to use her crafting skills for the greater good of the ocean.
“I learned how to crochet during the pandemic. My grandparents’ house was destroyed after Hurricane Irma. There used to be tide pools and coral reefs, but they didn’t exist anymore. So, I saw that, and I wanted to help. In 10th grade, I just kind of came up with the idea to sell my crochet [creations],” Brown said.
The Coral Reef Restoration Foundation’s goal is to repopulate coral reefs, displaying their drive to save the environment, and aligning with Brown’s Crochet for Coral Reefs project. Brown gets to see her own impact on the ocean, as she has seen the revitalization of many coral reefs in the Florida Keys since starting her project. Her desire to protect the environment continued later, as she began interning at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in orchid microbiology, where she raises orchids from their seeds and plants them. Brown is certainly not finished; her achievements in the field of science have been outstanding so far, and she wishes to pursue her love of science in the future.
“My major right now is environmental science. I mean, I don’t really know what I want to do, but probably something with helping the environment.”
“ I just love science. I went to the Summer Academy for math and science at Carnegie Mellon, and I got into physics. And then I did Envirothon last year – my category was aquatics – and my team won for our region,” Brown said. “My major right now, subject to change, is environmental science.”
Brown’s impact on the environment continues to aid change in the community, allowing her passion for the ocean and her love of crochet to transform into something meaningful and impactful.
