Mia Shields

JOURNALISM: Kate Markus

Miami Palmetto Senior High senior and Journalism Silver Knight nominee Kate Markus has loved writing ever since she was a little girl. As a former writer for The Panther, Markus has always enjoyed expressing her opinions and writing about what was happening in her community. One thing that certainly caught her attention was unjust imprisonment. 

“One of the examples was, if you clogged a toilet at a national park, you could go to prison for that…I wanted to help people who had gone to prison that didn’t necessarily deserve it, in a sense, and try and minimize their chance of going back to prison,” Markus said.  

This moment, when she felt the urge to do something to help with these injustices, was when Markus decided to establish her own addition. FreshStart is a non-profit organization under SharingWear, a school merchandise and fundraising site founded by Markus’s older sister, Nicole Markus. Their younger sister, an incoming freshman, plans to take over the project and keep it in the family once Markus graduates.  

“FreshStart donates clothes to those recently out of jail and donates professional clothes so they can go into job interviews and restart their life. And I’m a big clothes person, I love fashion and that’s why they kind of intersect in that nature,” Markus said. 

Her personal love for fashion intersects with her project and drives her campaign. Her MPSH spirit also plays a major role in her campaign, as a large component of SharingWear is designing and selling merchandise for the school for zero profit. She works with classes within the school as well, designing their merch and helping them fundraise for their big activities and events. 

“SharingWear is Palmetto’s spirit wear website,” Markus said. “I design [everything] and deal with the marketing aspect of it. Each month there’s a new charity, in which 50% of the profits goes to [the school’s] PTSA, and the other 50% goes to the charity of the month.”

SharingWear supports other organizations such as Volunteering Miami and the Class of 2025. These groups can sell their merchandise through SharingWear as a form of fundraising; every order is shipped directly to the consumer, and profits are donated to the organization as well as a charity of the month. Recently, SharingWear has donated to Aldeas Infantiles SOS de Espana. 

Seeing the impact she has made on people’s lives first-hand, Markus is grateful for the opportunity to give back to her community.

“I’ve received pictures of everyone getting their clothes for a FreshStart, and it’s really beautiful to see the impact that even one person can make,” Markus said. 

Markus is not the only one who has helped those recently out of prison; she received generous support from the local community. 

“We collected clothes here at Palmetto and just we went door to door asking people if they had anything to donate, and it was shocking to see how much clothes people actually don’t use… so it was a win-win because everyone needs a reason to clean out their closet and then it’s going towards a good cause,” Markus said. 

Continuing to fulfill her passion for writing, Markus has found creative ways to spread the word about her project. 

“I currently write for the Daily Business Review.…Psychology and law are two things that really interest me, so I write about [topics revolving around] that. For example, I wrote about my community service project FreshStart, about how some people go to jail for crazy reasons. I’ve also written articles about the bystander effect and more, and then I’ve also written for the Florida Villager,” Markus said. 

Markus is honored for the opportunity to be nominated as a Silver Knight and have the chance to raise awareness about her project. 

“I had heard about Silver Knight a few years prior and I thought it was a really cool opportunity to showcase my community service and learn about other people’s projects as well,” Markus said. 

MATHEMATICS: Daniel Perodin

Miami Palmetto Senior High senior Daniel Perodin was recognized for his achievements in Technology, Engineering and Math, being nominated for the Silver Knight in Mathematics. 

Channeling his love for problem-solving and puzzles, Perodin has created an initiative to teach chess at local middle schools, encouraging peers to get involved and refine their skills in this strategic game. His project combines his two passions: chess and coding. 

“I started tutoring chess at Southwood Middle School my sophomore year and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Perodin said. “I [also] started an outreach program to teach chess at Frank C. Martin K-8 last year.”

Tutoring at schools he previously attended, Perodin gives back to the places where he first developed his love for math and logic as a young student. As for the inspiration behind his knowledge and passion for chess, Perodin credits his father. 

“I really love chess and have been playing it since I was six years old. My father inspired me. He taught me chess and we love to play together,” Perodin said.

Teaching students — some with little to no knowledge — is no easy task; but, Perodin truly believes that anyone can master the game if given the opportunity, encouragement and support.

“If [students] are taught correctly, they can really get better at it,” Perodin said. “[Students] went to competitions and everything.”

In addition to impacting the community, the work has personally impacted Perodin as he observes students go from having little knowledge about the game and how the pieces move, to then setting up traps and implementing tactics to dominate opponents in tournaments. 

“I helped them — some of them from scratch —and to see them grow over time was just amazing. Seeing them go from not knowing anything to going into competitions was really satisfying for me,” Perodin said. “I think chess brings out great qualities in these kids, and observing these bright, creative minds grow is one of the reasons I enjoy volunteering so much.”

Perodin felt as though simply teaching chess was not enough; he created an app called Athena to help his students really grasp the concept of chess and expand their knowledge of the game. Perodin was inspired to start his app because of the AP Computer Science course that he thrived in last school year. 

“I programmed this app to help users put in their chess games to look back at [to learn from their mistakes, as well as] put their games into a website that can help them analyze the game,” Perodin said. 

Perodin’s work will not stop after he graduates from MPSH.

“I plan to continue teaching chess whenever I can. And, also, hopefully, somebody can take over the project next year,” Perodin said.

However, finding someone who matches Perodin’s enthusiasm for all things logic and math-related will be difficult.

As President of the MPSH Chess Club and co-President of the Robotics Club, Perodin exhibits his dedication to the game of chess and expands this devotion. He connects his role as president of the Chess Club to his tutoring initiative by providing other high school students with this shared passion to tutor chess alongside him. 

Perodin felt inspired to apply for this prestigious recognition by AP English Literature and Composition teacher Andrea Spivak, who announced the Silver Knight application to her senior classes and met with prospective nominees.

“Without [Spivak], I would have never done this,” Perodin says 

“I was inspired by what I learned and decided to program my own project on the side. This eventually became Athena, the app I made to help users record their chess games among other things,” Perodin said. 

A fitting candidate for this category of nomination, Perodin’s passion for this topic shines through.

“I really love math. How you solve problems, the patterns, the logic step by step and how it gets you to the answer,” Perodin said.