Miami Palmetto High School rising senior Marcos Mendiola won the Paw the Teal Award at the school’s award ceremony this spring. The award is given to someone who is committed to community service and participates in the school.
Read more Positive people in Pinecrest : Catalina Valdes
As of May, he had 480 community service hours, many earned volunteering at Opus Care, visiting elderly patients.
“I spend a pretty good amount of my summer there,” he says. “At first my grandmother went into hospice there. I started visiting. Then I saw how lonely it was. I thought I should volunteer so it’s not as lonely.”
At first, he would sit and talk to the patients.
“I’d hang out with them so they would have someone with them, like a companion,” he says.
After the first summer, he realized that some of the patients needed more than just a visit.
“I approached the person overseeing my volunteering,” he says. “She thought it was a great idea. I help organize painting and arts and crafts activities for them once or twice a week.”
Mendiola comes with a collection of different arts and crafts options for the residents including yarns for knitting, finger painting materials and materials for canvas painting.
“I provide a lot of options, whatever they want to do,” he says.
He mostly worked out of the Kendall facility but after a while he expanded to the Palmetto Bay one as well. He goes for five or six hours at a time, four or five days a week.
“I would run the entire service, passing out the canvas and the paints,” he says. “It gives them something to think about rather than being in the hospice.”
This summer he plans to put a drive together to collect many arts and craft items.
“I would also link it to (school club) Interact to increase the number of products,” he says.
He devotes his summer to volunteering at the facility. During the school year, he coaches a basketball team of seventh and eighth graders in the Beth Am league. The practices are held three times a week with one or two games a week. He also plays on a high school team in the league as well.
“Coaching has helped develop my knowledge of the game and it has definitely increased my skills,” he says.
Read more Positive people in Pinecrest : Gabrielle Kushner
At Palmetto he plays on the badminton team. He’s also a member of school’s Finance Club. He’s also a member of Interact and the National Honor Society.
Mendiola’s the co-chair of the Student Council Student Involvement Committee.
“We regulate the club fair,” he says. “By setting it up and establishing what clubs go where. We design the Fun Friday idea. There are tables, music, and games. It creates more school spirit. It involves all the students, gets them to the courtyard, and gets them involved in games.”
There is a concern about school spirit and student involvement in attending school sporting activities.
“I would say, I go to a lot of sporting events,” he says. “The lack of people is disappointing. I try to promote the sporting events too, to promote school spirit.
In college, he plans to major in sports business or finance. His target schools currently include the University of Florida, the University of Texas (Austin), the University of Inidiana, the University of North Carolina and Florida State University.
During high school football season, Mendiola works for Florida Man Sports doing videography.
“I video the games, after the games I do the highlights and we post them on social media,” he says.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
ABOUT US:
For more Miami community news, look no further than Miami Community Newspapers. This Miami online group of newspapers covers a variety of topics about the local community and beyond. Miami’s Community Newspapers offers daily news, online resources, podcasts and other multimedia content to keep readers informed. With topics ranging from local news to community events, Miami’s Community Newspapers is the ideal source for staying up to date with the latest news and happenings in the area.
This family-owned media company publishes more than a dozen neighborhood publications, magazines, special sections on their websites, newsletters, as well as distributing them in print throughout Miami Dade County from Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Brickell, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, South Miami, Kendall, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay and Homestead. Each online publication and print editions provide comprehensive coverage of local news, events, business updates, lifestyle features, and local initiatives within its respective community.
Additionally, the newspaper has exclusive Miami community podcasts, providing listeners with an in-depth look into Miami’s culture. Whether you’re looking for local Miami news, or podcasts, Miami’s Community Newspapers has you covered. For more information, be sure to check out: https://communitynewspapers.com.
If you have any questions, feel free to email [email protected] or [email protected].
Read more Panter, Panter & Sampedro Awards 2026 Scholarships to two Miami Palmetto Senior High School students