Silver Knight Awards

By Alicia Longo

The Miami Herald Silver Knight Awards is an awards program for students who have maintained at least a 3.2 GPA (unweighted) and have contributed service to their school and community through service projects and other activities. According to Dr. Spanich, the STA Silver Knight program moderator, “A Silver Knight is one whose record of service to the school and community best exemplifies an unselfish and continuous use of one’s talents in helping others. Service does not have to be related to a nominee’s category, but some achievements both in and out of the classroom must be related to the category.” This awards program is available to 12th grade students in Miami-Dade and Broward County public, private, and parochial schools. The categories for nomination are: Art, Athletics, Business, Drama, English & Literature, General Scholarship, Journalism, Mathematics, Music & Dance, New Media, Science, Social Science, Speech, Vocational-Technical & World Languages. Each school is allowed up to one nominee per category (15 candidates). Fifteen students from Saint Thomas Aquinas High School were nominated for this award in the 2021-2022 school year. The nominees are as listed below:

Jonah Basi: Social Science

Sofia Castro: World Languages

Kaylee Diaz: Science

Ack Faulkner: Math

Noah Katzman: Athletics

Justin Ruf: Digital & Interactive Media

Richard Speno: Business

Elysa Vivanco: Art

Alexandria Calloway: Vocational Technology

Dakota Degenhardt: Drama

Kamryn Duquesnay: General Scholarship

Mia Gonzalgo: Music

Caroline Nolan: English & Literature

Madison Schlichte: Journalism

Ella Tillinghast: Speech

One Silver Knight and three Honorable Mentions are chosen by a panel of judges for each category. Silver Knights receive $2,000, a Silver Knight statue, and a medallion presented by American Airlines. In addition to Silver Knights, three Honorable Mentions receive $500 and an engraved plaque. Winners are revealed at the awards ceremony. This year, the ceremony took place on May 26, 2022 at 7:00 pm. This year’s winners and honorable mentions from STA are: