Sofia Rojas
Recently Miami Palmetto High School junior Sofia Rojas took responsibility for the Lancer Closet, the room at Palmetto Middle School where donated school uniforms are available to middle school children to take.
“I’ve been expanding on it,” she says. “I often go in there. We ask the grades to donate their old school clothes. They can go in there for spirit wear. Like hoodies and tee shirts.
There are also club shirts for Fun Friday Shirts. The styles change every year.”
The closet contains polos, khakis, jeans, and spirit wear.
Rojas has been organizing the closet to see what is in good enough condition to keep and the clothing that can’t be used is donated elsewhere.
She’s also trying something new.
“This is the last year they are allowed to use the old uniforms,” she says. “They can wear jeans and kakis. They are lenient about the bottoms. This is the last year for the black polos, they are going to navy blues. Some of the patch polos can be removed.”
Rojas is being creative with the shirts that can no longer be used.
“I’m looking to make pencil pouches out of the old uniforms,” she says.
She hopes to inspire other schools to follow suit and make their own version of the Lancer Closet.
Middle school students are urged to go in and pick up whatever they need.
“It’s a take what you need type situation,” she says. “For the kids who really do need the uniforms, we encourage them to just take.”
She took over the closet at the end of the last school year after going there to help her mom organize.
“They had an abundance of uniforms because one of the uniform companies shut down,” she says.
At the time, her mom was the Palmetto Middle PTA president. This year, her sister is a Palmetto High freshman and Rojas hopes her sister will eventually take over as the closet’s caretaker.
Rojas not only volunteers at Palmetto Middle, but she also earns community service hours volunteering with the Girl Scouts.
This past August, she participated in a Blue Missions trip to the Dominican Republic.
“We built toilets,” she says.
It took more than four hours to reach the remote village where they were building the latrines.
Each day, they broke up into groups that had different assignments. Some built doors, some poured concrete, and some built the exterior.
Building the latrines was a new experience for her.
“I really enjoyed it,” she says. “It was crazy. I got used to it by the end.”
Rojas says the village children would help build the latrines.
“They were so happy to get a latrine,” she says. “They were so happy and grateful to get something they could use.”
At school, Rojas is in the National Honor Society, the Capstone Club, the French National Honor Society and Interact. She’s also in the Puentes Club, which brings people together to play dominos.
“It’s not only for people in my school, anyone can come,” she says.
She’s the recruitment chair for student council.
“What I do is basically ensure that students who are looking into different high school alternatives, and their parents, can be informed on what our school has to offer,” she says.
“With so many choices out there (private, charter, and public) to me this has incredible relevance in a time where public schools are having trouble in funding and enrollment which is affecting reputation. There is so much to showcase about our school, and it is such an incredible opportunity for the students who choose it.”
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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