BankUnited and The Miami HEAT Charitable Fund offer $25,000 annually in scholarship funds to high school seniors attending Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe or Palm Beach schools. This is the 27th year that the Miami HEAT has offered scholarships. Scholarships are awarded based on academic performance and outstanding community service. Scholarships include the following:
- Three (3) $5,000.00 HEAT Scholarships
- One (1) $5,000.00 Dr. Jack Ramsay Scholarship
- One (1) $5,000.00 Alec Kessler Student-Athlete Scholarship
Maia Gleizer
- Winner of the Alec Kessler Student-Athlete Scholarship.
- Senior at Cooper City High School.
- District GPA (weighted) is 4.8 and State GPA (unweighted) is 3.5.
- Maia earned a varsity position on the school volleyball team in her junior year and became a starter and captain, in this her senior year. She received the school Coach’s Award this past year.
- Beyond the classroom, she has actively engaged in on-campus involvement such as holding leadership positions in clubs, extracurricular activities, along with athletics. Maia is an impactful member of Cooper City High School’s award winning DECA Business program, Historian for their National Honors Society and several other leadership positions on campus.
- She re-established and served as the President of her school’s Women of Tomorrow mentoring program, which aims to inspire, motivate and empower at-risk young women to live up to their full potential through a unique mentoring program with highly accomplished professional women.
- She has volunteered over 470 hours of community service, mainly with Maccabi Tzair, a youth leadership program at the David Posnack JCC in Davie, designed to give opportunities for teens to develop themselves as leaders. In this role, Maia has served as a counselor while overseeing groups of children and leading weekly activities for them that focus on mentoring and teaching.
- She plans to study Psychology at Florida State University.
Ivy Lam
- Winner of Dr. Jack Ramsay Scholarship.
- High school is Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
- District GPA (weighted) is 5.2 and State GPA (unweighted) is 3.9, which is in the top 3 percent of her graduating class.
- Participated several extracurricular activities while at MSD: Editor of the Eagle Eye school newspaper, President of National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society, Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), DECA, National English Honor Society, Senior Class Board, Quill & Scroll Honor Society.
- As the current editor of The Eagle Eye, she has written articles on a wide range of topics for a national award-winning program that has been recognized for its journalism excellence.
- While on staff since her freshman year, the newspaper has received four Pacemaker Finalist Awards from the National Scholastic Press Association, three Gold Crown Awards from Columbia Scholastic Press Association, and three All-Florida Ratings from the Florida Scholastic Press Association. These awards placed The Eagle Eye in the top one percent of school newspapers in the nation.
- To date, Ivy has written more than 70 stories for The Eagle Eye, in addition to fulfilling her editor responsibilities, which have varied over the years, but currently include editing and assisting staffers with their stories and planning the direction of the Features section in both the print and online versions of the news magazine. She has also been published in the Journal of Student Research for her work in Financial Literacy.
- She has volunteered over 900 community service hours with both Coral Springs Middle School and MSD as an office assistant, aiding parents with school registration, transcripts, and various questions. She also managed the front office – answering phone calls, booking appointments, and organizing paperwork.
- Plans to study Finance at the University of Florida.
Celine Churchman
- Winner of HEAT Scholarship (1 of 3).
- High school is G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School and part of the Cambridge Magnet Program.
- District GPA (weighted) is 4.6 and State GPA (unweighted) is 3.7.
- In addition to her coursework, Celine has participated in many extracurricular activities at her school. She held positions at her school as Yearbook Editor in Chief, Quill & Scroll Honor Society President, Law Honor Society Historian, along with many others.
- She also served as Lieutenant Governor of Division 26A for the Florida District of Key Club International. In this role, she supervised more than 14 schools with 1,600 plus students – which her division currently has consistently demonstrated the most volunteerism and continues to earn statewide recognition.
- She was named Junior Legislative Aid and Events Coordinator for the City of Sweetwater and coordinated with hundreds of volunteers to participate in many food distributions in the Sweetwater community, where at each event, they distributed over 3,000 boxes of food to residents.
- At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she founded a local non-profit called, “Seven Helping Hands,” which distributed food to low-income residents in her community. Her organization grew during the pandemic and has fed hundreds of families, with her goal being to provide food to hundreds more and reach people in other communities. Through this initiative, Celine has assisted the residents of the City of Sweetwater by delivering over 25,000 boxes of food door to door.
- Plans to study Political Science and Government at Davidson College with a Minor in History.
Natasha Harris
- Winner of HEAT Scholarship (2 of 3).
- High school is School for Advanced Studies North Campus.
- District GPA (weighted) is 5.2 and State GPA (unweighted) is 3.9.
- Natasha earned a spot with the National Security Language Initiative for Youth sponsored by the US Department of State to attend an immersive language and cultural program in Taiwan. Having spent the summer in Kaohsiung, Natasha returned proficient in Mandarin and with a keen global perspective. Natasha also studies Mandarin on her own initiative through Florida Virtual School, to further her fluency in the language.
- Now serving as President of the Miami-Dade NAACP Youth Council, Natasha has volunteered 675 hours of community service since 2021 through her membership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She has led several committees of community events that included: Thanksgiving baskets to over 500 families, Toy drive that brought smiles to over 200 youth at Myrtle Grove Elementary School, participation in voter registration and community clean ups. She has represented the youth council as a panelist, and currently participates in Teens Advocating Together where NAACP youth and Jewish youth come together and discuss issues that affect both communities.
- Her passion for understanding race relations led her to work at Florida International University’s Social Class Background & Workplace Norms Lab. In her role as research assistant, she transcribed and coded many hours of interviews, and collaborated with the researchers in the development of these findings. The resulting report has been submitted for peer review and, when published, will include Natasha’s name.
- She also volunteers her time with the South Florida Heat Band, a multi-generational group of homeschooling parent and student musicians. Natasha joined this organization as a volunteer because she wanted to find ways to continue playing clarinet while earning service hours for rehearsing and performing free concerts for the community.
- She plans to Double Major in Psychology and Statistics and also Minor in Chinese Language & Culture at one of the following schools: Duke University, Boston University or Brown University.
Gabriel Henry
- Winner of HEAT Scholarship (3 of 3).
- High school is Lake Worth Community High School.
- District GPA (weighted) is 4.6 and State GPA (unweighted) is 3.8.
- Gabriel is a student ambassador for Lake Worth Community High School, representing the entire student body when we have visitors, news crews, and dignitaries on campus, while also recruiting at middle schools. He also became the President of Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) and Senior Class Vice-President, for his high school.
- Since joining his school's marching band program, Gabriel has been involved with the school jazz band, wind ensemble, symphonic band, brass choir and performed as a euphonium & trombone soloist. He also served the band program as lead equipment manager, section captain, and band captain.
- Gabriel has participated in several medical programs for years and has earned multiple certifications including CPR, EKG, and EMR. He is currently working on his Pharmacy Tech certification as an intern at Walgreens.
- He volunteers as an audio and visual technician church. He also volunteers at a shelter in Boynton Beach, handing out packaged meals, giving out grocery bags of food, and assisting with volunteer shipments. He also donated his time with the City of Lake Worth Beach, Mayor Betty Resch, and the City Commissioners on community initiatives that include music, the arts, and community well-being.
- Plans to study Pharmacy at The University of Florida and minor in Music Performance.