ENGLISH LITERATURE: Alexis James
Miami Palmetto Senior High senior and Silver Knight English nominee Alexis James has a dynamic presence at MPSH and excels in a wide range of roles. Whether managing the social media accounts for The Panther as Managing Editor, dominating the lacrosse field or taking on other significant responsibilities, James has worked toward the benefit of the MPSH community. When not in school, James works on her project, PICA-T, which tests and increases the awareness of iron deficiency in female teenage athletes.
James’ project aims to raise awareness of iron deficiency among female athletes by partnering with MPSH’s female sports teams. James has already collaborated with the MPSH Girls’ lacrosse and cheer teams, but she hopes to extend the iron testing to all athletic teams at school.
“What me and my team of medical researchers have been doing is working with Palmetto female athlete teams, and it’s basically a three-part process. We give this whole presentation basically telling all the players about why they should care about iron deficiency and the entire prevalence of it, and then pass out consent forms, and after a few days when they’re all signed, we come back and test to see if you have an iron deficiency,” James said.
PICA-T was inspired by James’ personal experience with iron deficiency, which was diagnosed after multiple doctor visits until she had an infusion.
“Sophomore year, I was going to lacrosse practice, and every day I was passing out. I had no clue what was going on with my body and didn’t understand why I’d pass out every practice. When my issue got worse, and it started happening in school, I started going to the doctor to see what was wrong, but they couldn’t give me an answer until my dad, who’s also a doctor, said maybe it was my iron. And it turned out to be exactly that,” James said. “My iron was so low, that iron supplements weren’t going to get me to the level I needed, so the only solution for me to get better and continue doing well in school was to get an infusion.”
The doctor who gave James her infusion reached out to her and asked to start the project with her and have her take the lead on it.
“We are turning the project into a big research paper that we plan to get published, which would hopefully be done by March or April,” James said. “With whatever results we have by then, we’ll be presenting them at the National Hematology Convention in Toronto next year.”
A major part of James’ life consists of her academics, lacrosse and time spent with family and friends.
“I’m very passionate about school. My academic life is definitely one of my big three lives, and tying back to my own deficiency, the fact that it affected my academic life was so important to me. Lacrosse is also such a big factor in my life,” James said.
James believes her passion for reading and writing makes her a strong candidate for the Silver Knight award.
“I’m definitely an English and reading person as opposed to math and science. A big part of my life has always been writing, in my free time or for the newspaper,” James said. “I was honored with the English award in my sophomore year, and out of 680 students in my class, I was the only sophomore to receive it.”
GENERAL SCHOLARSHIP: Maddie Sakalo
MPSH senior and Silver Knight General Scholarship nominee Maddie Sakalo uses her free time to sell bracelets, with all proceeds going to Hands to Love, an organization focused on helping children with upper limb differences.
“Hands to Love is an organization based in Gainesville, which creates a hand camp every year for children with upper limb differences,” Sakalo said. “They create activities focused around making them able to do things that other children can do, so, mobility-based rock climbing and arts and crafts, and really just traditional camp activities.”
In 2020, Sakalo was nominated for the May Hands to Love HEROES award. HEROES stands for: Heart, Empower, Resilient, Optimistic, Embrace and Selfless. This award is nominated by her fellow campers at Hands to Love hand camp for her active role in the community.
“I started my project in seventh grade for my bat mitzvah, and really what inspired me was being born with polydactyly, which is a condition where I was born with two thumbs on my right hand,” Sakalo said.
The General Scholarship nomination is awarded to those who have extraordinary academics, high testing scores and a large involvement in their community.
“I’m the historian of the Interact Club, Marketing senator for the Inter-club Council, I’m the business manager for the yearbook, among many other things, and because of that, and with my project, I was nominated as a great example of a well-rounded student coming out of Palmetto to really represent the General Scholarship category for the Silver Knight competition,” Sakalo said.
Sakalo’s goal for her project reaches beyond just upper limb differences and appreciates every person, no matter the disability.
“One of my biggest goals with my project, Made by Maddie, is to raise awareness for not only Hands to Love, but also people with differences and unique disabilities and conditions that don’t separate them from other people, but rather just celebrate their unique identities,” Sakalo said. “With this Silver Night nomination I hope to continue raising money for Hands to Love while also continuing to give back to my community through active service.”
