Every generation has criticized the one behind it as being soft, coddled, unaware and incapable of surviving all that their predecessors endured. Do any of these sound familiar?
“When I was your age, we didn’t have cell phones or that internet stuff.”
“We worked hard — and walked five miles to school. In the snow. Uphill both ways.”
And my personal favorite: “Kids today? Sheesh. Bunch a weenies if you ask me.”
But we’re changing the conversation.
The following pages are proof that there’s reason to feel good about the future. For this edition of Keys Woman, we needed reassurance from the next generation — and we found it in spades.
Watch what happens when these young wonder women take on the world.
By Jim McCarthy
Coral Shores’ senior Calista Wittke’s path through scouting was one of dedication and perseverance.
Her journey, which recently reached the pinnacle having become an Eagle Scout, is forging the way for her fellow females in Scout Troop 914G.
Not only did Wittke officially become the 58th Eagle Scout in Monroe County back in March, but she also made history as the Keys’ first female Eagle Scout.
“Calista’s leadership has always been exemplary,” said Kathleen Pegues, Calista’s first scoutmaster. “She has been an inspiration to many young girls from the Florida Keys through her helpfulness, loyalty and bravery. There was never any adventure too daunting for her to tackle.”
About 6% of all Scouts earn the Eagle rank.
“Honestly, I just loved how I met so many people and stuck with it until the end,” Wittke said. “I feel so much happier and proud of myself that I did this.”
In 2018, families were able to choose Cub Scouts not only for their sons but also their daughters who were in kindergarten to fifth grade. A year later, older girls were allowed to participate in Scouts BSA. The landmark change not only gave girls the chance to participate in scouting activities, but also presented an opportunity for them to work their way up to Eagle Scout.
Wittke, who spent her younger years in Girl Scouts, eventually joined the local Scout troop shortly after girls were allowed in. She said her mom, Paula, and brother, Keegan, introduced her to scouting. Keegan worked his way up to Eagle Scout in 2022.
“I would go to the meetings and sit, so I knew how it all was going,” she said. “In Girl Scouts, it was a lot of arts and crafts. But I liked the outdoors and nature a lot more. In my first meeting (with Boy Scouts), we built a tent and a fire, with assistance. I thought to myself, ‘I love this so much more.’”
Wittke entered as Webelo, a two-year program for fourth- and fifth-graders, before progressing to eventually reach Eagle. Along the way, she earned a variety of merit badges, from cooking and communication to horsemanship, swimming, personal fitness, family life, photography, first aid, emergency preparedness and others. She obtained more than 20 merit badges, of which 14 were Eagle-required.
“When I was Webelo (in Cub Scouts) looking up to Eagles, I thought ‘This is not going to happen for a while,’” Wittke said.
In addition to the merit badges, Wittke had to complete a community project in order to be considered for Eagle Scout. Her project to plant three native blolly trees and 12 golden beach creeper plants at the Coral Shores High School courtyard took months of planning and extensive coordination. She received good grace from school administrators, including principal Laura Lietaert.
“I just felt something could be done to make the courtyard a little more enjoyable while having more people want to be around it,” she said. “At the time my mom and I talked about the project, I said I love trees, and the courtyard is a place where kids have lunch.
“There may be instances where kids are having bad days, so maybe more plants and trees could relax them,” Wittke added. “And who knows? Maybe they’ll wonder about the trees and plants and want to plant some of their own.”
Wittke originally thought the project would take two days to complete, but with help from fellow Scouts, it only took one day. By March 5, new plants and trees were planted and ready to grow.
Wittke has since turned 18, meaning she aged out of the scouting program. But she says she’s still committed to helping inspire the other girls in Scout Troop 914G to achieve the Eagle Scout rank. On top of the badges and earning Eagle Scout, Wittke said she’s also made lifelong friends.
“There are two girls I started scouting with that I’m going to inspire to get their projects done so they can become Eagles,” Wittke said.
Her mom, Paula, said scouting has been a great learning and leadership opportunity for her daughter.
“Throughout the merit badges, you really have to gain a lot of knowledge and skills about so many different things that you would not necessarily be exposed to. And I just think it’s helped her grow,” she said.
Upon graduation, Wittke will be attending Sante Fe College where she will pursue an associate’s degree in interior design. After that, she’s seeking to transfer to the University of Florida.
What do you think makes your generation unique?
As a Gen Z, I feel we are unique in many ways. We have been fortunate to have been raised at a time when we have internet and mobile devices to explore and communicate around the world. Most people in this generation seem to have a strong desire to achieve their goals through non-traditional paths.
What’s one thing you did in the last 24 hours to make someone’s life better?
I attended a youth group where we worked with younger children to discuss religion.
By Alex Rickert
When most folks were busy at the Marathon Seafood Festival downing beers and cracking stone crab claws, Marathon High School senior Rylee Seligson was donning gloves and filling trash cans.
Along with a few of her classmates, she was busy cleaning tables – not because she had to, and not because she got paid for it. Instead, cash raised throughout the entire weekend went in a fund to pay for Grad Bash – a theme-park trip for graduating seniors – for members of her class who otherwise couldn’t afford to go.
Because if there’s anything that supports fellow students at MHS, particularly in the Class of 2025, Rylee is there.
The senior class secretary sat on the sidelines of football games for three hours last fall to get drenched with buckets of water in a “Soak a Senior” fundraiser. She’s been a part of building homecoming floats since freshman year, and you’d be hard-pressed to catch her missing a Class of 2025 event.
“She truly is dedicated to her community and class, and I think she should get recognized for that,” said sponsor Rob Driscoll, who nominated Seligson for this piece.
She’s not one to list an encyclopedia of clubs on her resume – in fact, we had to work overtime to pull all her accomplishments out of her – but Seligson embodies a quote from famed runner Steve Prefontaine: “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”
Her impact on her school and community is with the depth of her involvement. She’s always at the top of the cast list with the MHS Drama Club, securing a lead in the musical “Newsies” as a freshman – but she also serves as the club’s playbill designer, dance captain, assistant choreographer and “Drama Club Mom,” looking after the younger actors in productions.
She’s the treasurer of the Thespian Honor Society, too – and did we mention she managed to pull off a critical role in a seven-woman musical at the Marathon Community Theatre at the SAME time as her school club’s 2024 performance of “Saturday Night Fever?”
“My parents have always taught me that ‘If you’re gonna do something, do it all the way, and whatever you do, we will support you,’” Seligson said.
“Their favorite way to use it is when I clean my room,” she added with a laugh. “But if I can raise $200 and someone can go to Grad Bash, I’ll do it. Sometimes it was really gross, spilling oyster water all over myself, but I kept telling myself that I’m doing it so that somebody else can have a great high school experience.”
Her influence reaches beyond her own school to the halls of Marathon Middle School and Stanley Switlik Elementary, where she volunteers as a Reading Achievement Initiative for Scholastic Excellence (RAISE) tutor.
And whether she self-promotes it or not, others are always watching.
When Switlik threw a Valentine’s Day dance for students, Seligson was there to chaperone, prompting this email from third-grade teacher Krista Dennington to MHS principal Christine Paul the next day:
“Rylee was a superstar and carried the entire dance,” Dennington wrote. “She had ‘dance battles’ with the kids and kept them moving all night long. She was amazing, a shining ball of positive energy. … It is beautiful to see our ‘babies’ that have grown into such upstanding individuals and future leaders of Marathon.”
What do you think makes your generation unique? I’d say people in my generation are less afraid to speak their minds. There are so many protests going on, and at the forefront of it are people my age or maybe a few years older than me.
What’s one thing you did in the last 24 hours to make someone’s life better? The Switlik drama club came to the high school yesterday. I held the door open for them, and one little girl hugged me, and then it turned into every kid giving me a hug as they walked by. I taught them a dance, and I told them all that they were cool and that no matter what they decided to do, whether it was drama club or play baseball, whatever they did mattered.
By Mandy Miles
Plenty of high-school students have gotten straight As since kindergarten.
But not many of them manage to maintain perfect grades while nursing their single mom through breast cancer surgery, then chemo treatments.
“I was 12 when my mom started fighting breast cancer. She had surgery pretty immediately, then started chemotherapy the summer before my eighth-grade year,” Sofia Zeledon said, recalling her mom’s initial surgery to remove a lump. “Her wound opened up when she got home, so she was rushed to the hospital. It looked so bad and was so scary.”
Sofia learned from a nurse how to pack her mom’s wound and monitor it for any signs of infection or other problems.
Then the chemo started, with its associated hair loss and harrowing mix of bad days and better days between treatments.
Sofia’s mom, Irela Zeledon, came to Key West from Nicaragua in 1998 with her younger sister, Aronairam, who would become “tia” when Sofia was born years later.
“My mom speaks mostly Spanish, so I’m her interpreter for a lot of things,” Sofia said. “Luckily, with the cancer and chemo, there was often a nurse who spoke Spanish, so she could help.
“It was rough, but my mom kept working. She only took off work when she absolutely had to. “And now she’s been cancer-free for almost three years. We got through it together.” Sofia, now in 10th grade at the Basilica High School, is happy to turn her thoughts to better times — like this year’s spring break trip to Tallahassee for Catholic Days at the Capitol.
And before that, in January, there was a school trip to Universal Studios for a Rock the Universe Catholic concert.
Sofia worked at the Basilica School to earn money for those trips.
“Mr. Wright, our principal, pays me to do jobs around the campus so I can earn money for the trips,” Sofia said. “During one break, Mr. Wright’s son and I painted the outside steps of the elementary school, and all the classroom doors.”
But school always comes first, Sofia said, rattling off the four AP classes she’s taking — and acing — AP Pre-Calculus, AP Bio, AP World History.
“And AP Spanish — I better get an A in that,” she said, laughing, adding that she and her mom typically spend a month every summer in Nicaragua with her grandparents, aunts and uncles.
In addition to her course load, Sofia is on the school’s debate team and cross-country team. She’s also enrolled in the Take Stock in Children scholarship program, which provides four years of college tuition to income-eligible kids, as long as they stay in school, out of trouble and maintain a C average — piece of cake for Sofia Zeledon, who, unsurprisingly, is considering medicine or law in the future.
Journalists learn quickly that interviewing teens can be tricky. They’re taught not to ask yes/no questions, so as not to give disinterested adolescents an easy out.
Sofia Zeledon is anything but a disinterested adolescent.
“She works her butt off, both Sofia and her mom,” principal Robert Wright said. “Sofia gets fantastic grades and is a potential National Merit Scholar. She also works maintenance jobs to pay for her extracurriculars while staying involved in everything service-related.”
Sofia Zeledon is a straight-A, bilingual, hardworking, compassionate super star. She’ll do big things. Just watch.
Q&A:
What do you think is the hardest job in the world and why? I think the hardest job is being a parent. Every day parents have to make sure they are raising their kids to be productive members of society by teaching them to be respectful, responsible and most of all, kind.
What’s one thing you did in the last 24 hours to make someone else’s life better? I decided to visit an older woman who lives alone to give her some flan that I had just made. She said she really appreciated it.
Of all the things you’re learning now, what do you think will be most helpful as an adult? I think the skill of time management will be most helpful. I currently have to make sure I do my homework and study while at the same time making sure I have time for my hobbies, extracurricular activities and friends. I believe this will be valuable as an adult. I want to work hard and get everything done properly and on time, but not overexert myself to the point where my whole life revolves around my job.
