A decades-old awards program that recognizes the achievements of South Florida high school seniors in and out of the classroom included Monroe County students for the first time. And one Coral Shores student came away a winner during awards night on May 14.
Known as the Silver Knight Awards, the program was formed in 1959 by John S. Knight, past publisher of the Miami Herald and founder and editor emeritus of Knight-Ridder Newspapers. With a long history of honoring exceptional students, the program seeks outstanding seniors who excelled academically while demonstrating achievements in various fields, from community service to extracurricular activities.
Since its inception, the awards program was only open to students in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. That was until State Attorney Dennis Ward called Jay Hershoff, chairman of the board of trustees for Baptist Health South Florida, a big sponsor of the Silver Knight Awards. Through a few phone calls, and some persistence, the awards program opened up to Monroe County students.
“It’s such an amazing thing to have nominees from Monroe County for the first time in 67 years,” Hershoff said.
Of the 900-plus nominees in South Florida, 12 came from Coral Shores. One of those, Connor Dixon, came away a winner in the athletics category. Aside from his excellence in the classroom and on the football field, Dixon dedicated more than 1,000 hours to bring a Special Olympics program to Coral Shores, which has grown to more than 100 volunteers.
Dixon’s journey began during his middle school years when he participated on a Special Olympic team, which pairs students with and without disabilities. When he reached high school, he noticed there was no Special Olympics program. He went to work and became the youngest coach and school director in Special Olympics history — and he did it all while balancing his school work, a part-time job and and an internship with Florida International University.
Dixon helped launch Special Olympics soccer and football programs. Other sports have been added to the program — bringing more students together for fun and competition.
“I created a culture at my school and in my community where kids with special needs never had to sit alone at lunch or never felt left out or alone throughout their high school career,” he said.
Silver Knights receive $2,000, a statue and a medallion presented by American Airlines. The cash awards are made possible in part by the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Other nominees from Coral Shores included Rocio Ornelas-Perez for art, Noah Myers for business, Rachel Rusch for digital and interactive media, Ivy Hong for journalism, Brian Hurt for math, Brookelyn Zlockie for music and dance, Kai Guth for science, Robert Aleman for social science, Alice Wilson for speech, Dylan Ostenson for vocational-technical and Andiris Ledesma Martinez for world languages.
Six students from Marathon High School and six Key West High School students were also nominated for Silver Knight Awards.
