This is our last “Best and Brightest” segment for 2020 and we saved the best for last. This week we focus on two high school seniors who are part of the 2020 Silver Knight Awards, which honor the most outstanding and accomplished high school seniors who have made a positive impact in their communities. Congrats to David Brothers and Ronnie Shashoua for breaking down gender and racial barriers. Click on the video to hear them tell their own stories. You can also read more on them below.
David Brothers (Miami-Dade, Krop Sr. High School)
Mr. Brothers created a series of projects aimed at uniting his school’s diverse student population. He formed a TV production group, producing monthly videos highlighting different aspects of the school. During his junior year, he relaunched the online newspaper, focusing on features of students, faculty and staff. He ultimately became the newspaper’s editor in chief. In his senior year, David created his "Be Our Guest" program to bring together students from different backgrounds over a meal, where they could discuss difficult issues.
Ronnie Shashoua (Broward County, University School of Nova Southeastern University)
As a middle school student who enjoyed coding and participating in robotics competitions, Ms. Shashoua realized there was little support for girls interested in those fields. That experience inspired her to create “Gadget Girls” in her sophomore year, a program for 4th and 5th grade girls to design, build and program robots.
She created the curriculum and established a budget with the help of NSU teachers, raising thousands of dollars in funds and in-kind services and equipment from the Alvin Sherman Library’s Circle of Friends and a division of Lexis Nexis. She launched the program with 17 Girl Scouts, and she’s working to expand it to underfunded elementary schools.
