Terrence Yan
Miami Palmetto High School rising senior Terrence Yan won the PAW Award at the end-of-the-year underclassman awards ceremony.
He’s president of a community service project called Puentes, which aims to connect different communities, and to provide new opportunities by having events like Domino Nights. The events are usually at the Palmetto Middle School Library.
The organization also conducts monthly fundraisers for basic needs like school supplies that are distributed at Palmetto High, Palmetto Middle and Palmetto Elementary.
They also organized a toy drive for Christmas and collected musical instruments.
“For the toy drive, we personally took them,” he says. “We sent them to a place in Homestead called The Caring Place. We donated musical instruments to Redland Elementary.”
They were able to donate 15-20 instruments for the students.
“It felt pretty good seeing the underprivileged kids have instruments,” he says.
Yan believes the organization can help bridge the different cultural groups and migrant populations.
So far, Puentes has raised several thousand dollars for donations. He started the group at the start of his junior year. It’s also a school club that has approximately 50 members. Ten to 15 club members attend the monthly Domino Nights.
The free Domino Nights attract around 50 people per session. Yan provides the dominos and instruction on how to play.
“We always see new faces,” he says. “We usually provide food and drinks like pizza and cookies.”
There are usually 12-15 tables with 4 players each going at the same time.
“Usually, there will be people of all ages but usually the middle schoolers play,” Yan says. “I go up and explain who we are and that there are some schools and communities less fortunate than ours and we try to help them and provide things that they need.”
Aside from Puentes, Yan is a member of the Student Council, working on the recruitment board.
“We help set up for the days we do school tours for the parents. We help with Panther for the Day. We also help with the social media,” he says.
They also do a Day in the Life of a Palmetto student for social media that he writes and films.
Yan is a member of Interact, vice president of the Finance Club and the president of the Business Honor Society.
“For the Finance Club we have people come in and discuss finance and stock trends,” he says.
As vice president, Yan books the speakers.
He also wants to bring in speakers for the Business Honor Society.
This past year he played singles on the badminton team. Yan expects to play again next year.
Last summer Yan participated on a Blue Mission trip that built latrines for a remote village in the Dominican Republic.
“It was cool seeing all the kids there,” he says. “They were super appreciative of what we did. They were happy. We take things for granted some time.”
He and the other teens slept on cots in sleeping bags with mosquito nets.
“We were sleeping in schools in the classrooms,” he says. “I remember the days I got back. Sleeping on a cot with no AC. I get home and have a hot shower. It was mind opening.”
He considered going back again this summer but this time he wanted to provide water to a village.
Next summer, he expects to be preparing to go off to college where he’ll major either in Finance or Business. His college application list includes the University of Florida, Florida State, Indiana, NYU and Boston College.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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