ENGLISH LITERATURE: Audrey March

English Literature Silver Knight nominee, Audrey March, has paved a way for a marginalized community through the art of writing. March grew up in Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL., and prioritizes her Jewish education and heritage. 

As a way to reflect her devotion to both writing and Holocaust remembrance, she started a community service project called  “Letter to the Stars” at the Miami Holocaust Memorial, in which she was involved through their ambassador program.

“Ever since seventh grade, I have been working with the memorial to build my knowledge of the Holocaust and develop meaningful relationships with survivors. I hope to use this as my Silver Knight project and will hopefully be attending March of the Living next spring,” March said. 

Letters to the Stars serves as a platform for high school students to write letters to Holocaust survivors that they share similar interests. They then connect to a survivor and learn about the tragedies they experienced firsthand.  

“Letter to the Stars is a letter campaign I started during 2020. Letters to the Stars is a program for students to reach out to local and international Holocaust Survivors to remind them that even in these uncertain and trying times, we as a community still remember their struggle and will make sure a terrible genocide like this will never again occur,” March said.

While students have the opportunity to gain knowledge of the survivors’ lives and learn about their culture from a different perspective, the survivors also receive uplifting and encouraging words from the students. 

“Through Letter to the Stars, students can express their gratitude to the survivors’ courage and their dedication to creating a world in which genocide is a thing of the past,” March said.

March’s passion for spreading education about the Holocaust started in her early years and continues as antisemitism rhetoric rises in the media. 

Additionally, March holds the position of Equity and Inclusion Director for Pinecrest City Music Project, where she works to promote diversity and rule out discrimination.  

“Working with PCMP as Equity and Inclusion Director has led me to learn about different disabilities and how you can make events inclusive to all,” March said. “No matter a person’s religion, gender, ethnicity, or identity, everyone should feel safe being themselves. It does not matter what you believe, we have to learn to live together. Becoming more accepting of others would make the world a safer, more welcoming place for everyone.”

In college, March aims to minor in Jewish studies alongside a major in Sports Management. This reflects her work for Miami Palmetto Senior High’s athletics, as she serves as Director of Social Media Relations where she runs the social media account, @mpshathletics, and aids in all sporting events. 

Through March’s passion for inclusivity and writing, she has impacted the Jewish community of Miami and beyond. 

GENERAL SCHOLARSHIP: Devica Shah

General Scholarship Silver Knight nominee, Devica Shah, shows dedication in regard to her academics, involvement in school and making a difference in the world.

Shah grew up in a family that made sure her culture and background remain prevalent in her life, which has served as a major motivation for her passion for helping women in India. 

 “I was born in Miami, I grew up in Miami. My parents are from India, a city called Mumbai,  and then my sister was born in Boston, but she basically also grew up in Miami and I also have one sister who is three years older and she also went to Palmetto,” Shah said. 

Shah incorporates her passion for arts and her culture into Raise the Arts, a service project which collects funds for women in India by selling paintings and hosting an annual art show. The show consists of dance performances and also exhibits paintings for sale. 

The profits raised through the show will then be donated to an organization in the United Kingdom called Wells on Wheels, which purchases water wheels for women in India. Shah’s goal is to contribute 100 water wheels every year through the earnings made. 

“So, the way my projects split up now is during the summer it is going to be the art project and during the school year, we are preparing for the dance show, which will be every May. It is an end-of-the-year showcase and it also highlights our summer projects, so our summer project will start the day of the dance show,” Shah said. “We had 11 dances and then over 50 dance performers ranging from five to 18-year-olds, and we made over $2,500 on that single day and it was just incredible.”

The summer project consists of Shah creating paintings by request that are later available for purchase.

The General Scholarship is awarded to students who show a significant amount of academic achievement and Shah demonstrates her merit toward this nomination through her GPA, class rank and her standardized testing scores.

“I have always been someone who really likes to learn, and I also think what makes me better for [the] General Scholarship is that I have no idea what I want to do in life; like I am going into college completely undecided to every single school. I have no idea what I want to do and that is what I am going to college for, to figure out what I want to do. So that General Scholarship is showing that I just really want to learn something and find something that I actually like to do,” Shah said. 

Shah is extremely involved in school, as she holds many positions of great importance that positively impact the entire student body. 

“I definitely think that being a role model and leadership is a big thing. I do a lot of things around the school that I absolutely love to do, but the biggest thing for me is being president of National Honor Society and also Student Council vice president is the most impactful,” Shah said. 

Through Shah’s experiences, she has learned lessons that she hopes to also give to those reaching for success. 

“What I think people should shoot for is character, and what kind of person you are and showing leadership, and then, of course, always doing your best and taking APs, but the biggest thing is doing stuff with passion because nothing is there without passion. I put so much passion into my project, and just everything I do.”

Through her project, Shah has gained knowledge and learned many resourceful tactics through planning the show and finding mentorship for the entirety of the project. 

“What I learned is to believe that everything will work out in the end, in everything.  Like, at the moment I will be crushed about something but I have it in the back of my head that this was meant for a reason,” Shah said.