Coral Gables student Kimberly Giron has earned more than 500 community service hours, many from volunteering at the Rivera Day Camp this summer.
Giron worked with the 3- to 4-year-olds, the youngest kids in the camp. “They were a lot of fun,” she said.
“They were so cute!”
Her sister had volunteered at the camp a couple of summers before and recommended it to her.
“I did an orientation and it was really nice,” Giron said.
At Gables, Giron is involved in different clubs and cheerleading. This is her third year as a high school cheerleader but she has been cheering since she was 8.
The Gables squad participates in cheerleading competitions two to three times a year.
“We go out of town,” she said. “This year we’re going to one in Coral Springs and one in Daytona Beach.”
She loves to compete. She likes the thrill of feeling the nerves and she enjoys practicing the routines over and over again until they are perfect. “At a football game, you are more interactive with the crowd,” she said.
“At competitions we create a routine. We practice three or four months. We have rigorous practices. I find them both fun.”
The Gables squad does well in competitions, earning national recognition two years ago. Along with cheerleading, Giron is involved with the English National Honor Society.
“We basically all share our love of English. We do poetry slams once a month,” she said. “We’re starting to do tutoring sessions for SAT or any English exam.”
Members of the English National Honor Society also go to the day care at Gables to read to the children.
Giron’s also a member of the National Honor Society and the International Baccalaureate Honor Society.
She’s just starting to look at colleges but particularly likes Florida State, where her sister attended. She wants to major in pre-med and hopes to become a pediatrician.
By Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
