Celebrating Grandchildren

Celebrating Grandchildren

By James Hill

 Part II of III Part Story

     Bianca discovered the dinning voice she has, which seemed to improve and get stronger each year.

Mr. Sheppard, her music teacher at Our Savior Lutheran School, took notice of her voice and created a special arrangement of the Psalm “America the Beautiful” for her to perform at the annual school talent show. Bianca drew a standing ovation from the audience. It was at this stage of her development that she no longer feared speaking or singing before an audience.

Two major events occurred when Bianca entered the fifth grade. First, her family moved from Plantation to accommodate her sister Kayla’s growing interest in the game of golf. Second, Bianca was transferred to the NSU University School at Nova Southeastern University to start fifth grade. At this juncture of her education, she had begun to take note of Kayla’s developing talent in golf. Kayla had won the Broward County Jr. Golf Championship in 2008. It had a positive effect on Bianca’s life.

Matured by both of those occurrences, Bianca began to search deeper and broader to determine where her talent might lie and what she had to do in order to reach the top of her talent. Realizing at that point what I had taught her, “Different strokes for different folks,” Bianca spent grades five through eight engaging her in every activity possible to become the best she could be in life.

As an eighth grader at NSU University School, Bianca took a little time out of her busy schedule oh — day to ask herself the following questions: “What have I done so far toward accomplishing my goal toward achieving my mission” and “What do I need to be doing now and in the future to continue my quest to be successful in school?” The answers to her questions could only be found in review of the activities in which she had participated over the past several years.

NSU University School presented Bianca with a number of new challenges. However, at the same time, the school provided her with more opportunities to improve upon the things she had learned to do previously. She joined the Drama Club and the Debate Team in addition to taking les-sons in voice and music. Bianca has always had a passion for music and theater. She per-formed in two stage plays, Beau-ty and the Beast and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as well as others. Her interests in music include genres such as R&B and Hip-Hop.

Additionally, Bianca played soccer and volleyball at NSU University School. For the last six years, Bianca has dedicated herself to the sport of volleyball. She has played both indoor and beach volleyball for two consecutive years. Bianca was granted the opportunity to play on the St. Thomas Aquinas High School Junior Varsity Volleyball Team as an incoming freshman. She made the South Florida Volleyball All-Star Team and went on to the International World Volleyball Tournament in Orlando in summer 2016. As for her upcoming sophomore year, she plans to try out for the volleyball team again.

As a student athlete, Bianca has excelled in all of her Honors Courses. She has been given multiple opportunities to explore career choices, including going to spend a week and a half at the prestigious John Hopkins University in Balti-more, Maryland, to be a part of the university’s Advanced Pre-Med Program.

Bianca is intensely involved in her community. Along with attending monthly beach clean-ups, she helps with the infants in the local Church by the Sea.

She is involved in organization drives and fundraisers that support diabetes and child obesity, Bianca is currently involved in three not-for-profit organizations, including the McCormick Foundation and Habitat for Humanity.

On May 6 of this year, she celebrated her Sweet 16 with her family and 53 of her closest friends in attendance.

According to Bianca, her family group has always been the most important part of her life. Because she and her cousin Faith are very close in age, they enjoy seeing each other and hanging out whenever they get the chance. Randall likes to hang with them too whenever they let him.