By Johania Charles/Miami Times
Whether dominating the basketball court, giving back to their community, or captivating audiences on stage, members of Miami-Dade County Public School’s graduating class — who began their high school journeys at the height of the pandemic — excel beyond the classroom.
M-DCPS graduating seniors were offered a combined total of $606 million in scholarships.
The 2024 graduates, filled with young adults actively seeking ways to improve the world through volunteer work or prospective careers, have big aspirations and even bigger hearts.
Joi Turner, a senior at Miami Killian Senior High School poses with her diploma at a commencement ceremony on Monday.
Seven years ago, a 9-year-old Joi Turner began making home-cooked meals with the help of her mother for the hungry and homeless in her community. Enlisting the help of friends and family, the Miami Killian Senior High School graduate hosts bimonthly meal distributions from Richmond Heights to Homestead through her Delivering Joi nonprofit organization.
Turner’s nonprofit was born out of a 5th-grade community service project and her realization that a neighbor’s disability and limited mobility posed a food-access challenge.
“I saw a need not only to give back to those who are hungry and homeless but to give them something other than nonperishable items,” she said. “One thing I try to emphasize is that there is a difference between hunger and homelessness. Hunger isn’t always seen.”
Turner says she managed to secure sponsorship from herb manufacturing company Badia.
“I’ve always had a love for cooking,” said Turner, who combined her passion for cooking and serving others. “I come from a family that loves to cook and I’ve mostly learned my recipes from them. A typical Joi meal comes with protein, a carb and a water bottle.”
Ending the school year with a 4.8 weighted GPA and graduating high school at 16 years old, Turner is headed to Stetson University on a Presidential Scholarship with plans to major in pre-med and minor in marketing.
But Turner, who was homeschooled from 8th through 11th grade, said she had reservations about returning to the public school setting her senior year.
“I felt I wasn’t getting the best education that I could,” said Turner, explaining how she struggled to pay attention and learn in public school. “For my senior year, I wanted to see what a public-school senior year would look like. I was a little skeptical because I was going back to the same place I left, but I’ve met a lot of great teachers who helped me with math, which I considered my weakest subject.”
According to the National Home Education Research Institute, students who are homeschooled typically achieve test scores 15 to 25 percentile points higher in standardized academic achievement tests than public school students.
M-DCPS 2023 Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) scores, published recently by The Miami Times, showed that schools in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods had many more students scoring below grade level in math and reading, compared to students attending schools in more affluent communities.
Turner says she’s only flourished during her senior year with the help of administrators and teachers she’s encountered at Killian.
“I’ve had a taste of what college will be like, which is very different from being homeschooled,” she admitted. “I’m glad I switched back this year.”
Like Turner, Miami Northwestern Senior High School (MNW) graduate Shecaria Knight will pursue a career in the health field at Florida State University.
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