
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: