Alan Garcia was nominated for the Academic Excellence category. This meant a lot to him because it meant that his hard work and doing his best paid off.

His Pathfinder experience helped him prepare for future interviews and get used to the competitive scene of college. He thinks his  interview went well. He wasn’t sure if he won but was happy he did it anyway.

In his free time, he likes playing and watching basketball, playing video games, playing guitar, and producing music.

Angelina Prieto’s category is Career/Technical Education, specifically in the Early Childhood field. For her, this meant a lot as it inspired her the impact she’ll make on the future generation. She loves working with children and it’s something that she definitely sees herself doing in her future. 

The Pathfinder process has helped her learn how to prepare for a formal interview, learn a little bit more about herself, and really put thought into her future. 

She thinks her interview went well. She stated, “All the judges were super friendly and very sweet. Although I was nervous, my friends and family helped me prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. I am so proud that I made it this far!”

Angelina is currently an after-school counselor at Freedom Shores Elementary School, where she works with kindergartners. She is also a part of the Early Childhood Academy here at Santaluces where she gets to plan out activities for the preschoolers and work with them hands-on. 

Bryanne Elie was nominated for the Communications category. It meant a lot to her she’s always loved writing and now she writes for her school newspaper and being in a leadership position helps her to get out of my comfort zone. Overall, communication has helped me strengthen my writing skills and get out of my comfort zone so now that it’s been showcased, makes her feel proud.

Pathfinders has helped her prepare and exercise interview skills and express herself on what her goals are. She wants underclassmen to know, “If you are passionate about something, it’s best to pursue things like Pathfinders so they can grow and learn both creatively and professionally.”

She thinks it went well. The judges made the environment very comfortable enough for her to express her answers smoothly and sufficiently. Though, she felt she could’ve done better. She doesn’t think she won but is proud that she was able to be part of the experience.

When asked who she would love to interview she said, “Someone who revolutionized everything/systems currently and in history like Martin Luther King who broke the status quo of their environment and chose to stand up for their beliefs despite opposition. It inspires me to act like them for the betterment of society.”

Danielle Mildort’s category is Science and to her, it meant a chance to explore the world around us and figure out how and why everything in the world works. To her, “Science also helps us develop a better future for ourselves by figuring out how to solve specific things like diseases.”

Pathfinders has prepared her for the future by helping her understand what she wants to become in the future. She always knew she wanted to do something within the science realm and Pathfinders has helped her to actually think about what she would like to do once she graduates high school, which is fastly approaching.

She also stated that the experience has “helped me to become more professional, by helping me understand what to wear at an interview, how to answer interview questions, and how to keep calm and have a professional manner when faced with such difficult situations.”

When asked if she think she won, she answered, “Hopefully, I do think I won. I think I displayed a great sense of knowledge in my field. The interview was fine. The interviewers made sure I felt comfortable and they didn’t stress me out by asking me academically rigorous questions, they mostly focused on me, why I was there, and my career in the future. I do think I could’ve answered a couple of questions much better, but considering the little time I had, and the way the questions were posed, I think I answered the questions as best as I could, which I think resulted in a high possibility of me winning.”

Her favorite field of science, that she could talk about forever would be anatomy and physiology. She finds learning about the human body to be very beneficial interesting. She thinks the more we learn about the human body, the more we can understand how to take care of ourselves, and how to minimize the pain and suffering of those who suffer such chronic diseases. 

She also thinks that anatomy and physiology is a huge important role in the medical field and in any job that you have in a medical field, you would need to learn your anatomy and physiology because you need to learn where everything is in the body, what it does, and the significance of that organ, etc. So she thinks that it’s very interesting to learn about and most of the time, knowing your anatomy and physiology is the root to some questions or issues people might have with the human body.

Gabrielle O’Brien’s nominated category is Literature. It has been important to her for her entire life. She grew up being taken to the library and reading classic lit from the moment she could read. In the future, she hopes to become a professor of history. To her, “Literature is one of the easiest ways to carry on that history, it is important to continue storytelling–one of the oldest forms of literature, spoken or written–and fact for generations to come.”

The Pathfinders experience allowed her to practice for her future in a professional atmosphere. She stated that the experience showed that, “Interviews, connecting with peers, and advocating for yourself and why you should be chosen for a role is something that most people will continue to do for the rest of their lives. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop being nervous for these types of things but I know that I will cherish every opportunity I have.”

She doesn’t know if she won, and feels like if she thinks about it she’ll jinx whatever chance she has. But she stated that whatever happens, “I know that I’m qualified and worthy of getting it and I believe that is all that matters. I have worked hard and one interview can’t possibly expand upon everything I have done, believe in, or strive for.”

When asked if she could be a literary character for a day, she replied, “It would definitely be Galadriel from Lord of the Rings. She is almost as old as their world itself and has so much grace and power but is still elegant. As one of the most powerful characters in both the books and movies, there is so much I could do. I could explore so much in just one day and learn more about their world.”

Jonathan Rodriguez Gomez was nominated for the Computer Science category. It resonated with him because prying things open and figuring out it works is cool to him. He also enjoys the cybersecurity and hacking side.

He found Pathfinders to be a great experience to test out his communication skills. He liked that he could share and express his passions, as these experiences are necessary to develop to get a job or do anything that requires people to trust you.

Jonathan thought the interview went fine but a tad interrogation-like. However, in the future, he hopes to pursue a job in it as it is a fun profession that allows creativity.

Ky Ngo was nominated for the Mathematics category. This subject specifically has been his best subject in high school because it means a lot to him and his future career.

Pathfinders with its scholarship will help him jumpstart his career and help fund his endeavors in university.

He doesn’t think he’s won overall but thinks that he placed. The interview went pretty smoothly except for the math question that was handed out.

When asked why he likes math, he replied, “Math is like solving a puzzle for me where I get satisfaction from solving the equations and problems.”

Louckens Philippe was nominated for the History/Political Science category. This meant a lot to him because it combines the study of how our past mistakes influence our current activism in society.

He plans to pursue a path in psychology specifically clinical psychology because he believes, “that clinical psychologists need to step out of the office to have a positive effect on their clientele. You can’t hope to help somebody better themselves in your office without also making an effort to improve the world. I watched an amazing TikTok that linked the rise in psychological disorders to the chaos and instability in our day-to-day lives. A true therapist cannot be uninvolved in our politics and uneducated about our history that’s why I applied to this category.”

When asked about the impact of Pathfinders, he said that it was an opportunity to experience something new. For him, “life is about experiences, good and bad. So, the real question is why would I not go to this and experience it? I guess that I also got the opportunity to include it in my resumes and it was an honor to be recognized amongst his community.” He also liked that he got to see beyond his community as there were plenty of people at Pathfinders getting him out of his “fish bowl.”

Due to his confident personality, he thinks he won but in reality, he’s unsure. He felt like his interview went like a regular conversation which was fine but because of the abundance of close-ended questions, he felt very limited on what he could say. He wanted to expand more on certain topics but was not given the chance to effectively express himself. This makes him feel uneasy about the results.

When questioned if he could have a political debate with any historical figure and what he would discuss, he answered, Machiavelli. That’s because of his book “The Prince” as he’d be interested in seeing how he’d govern in this time.  He’s fascinated with the idea of seeing how he would act in the 21st century since he is from the 1600s.

He believes, “At the core of the book ‘The Prince’ is the idea of educating the people on the ways of royalty. How would he evaluate the thought process of today’s billionaire? What does he think the true motives behind a billionaire and millionarie’s actions are? How do people in power stay in power?”

In continuance with the theme of money, he’d also like to  talk to Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie wrote “The Gospel of Wealth” and like to debate with him how someone could possibly be an ethical millionaire or billionaire. He’d like to see how he would engage in holding on to so much wealth while so many other people are poor. Louckens always believed in the idea that there is no such thing as an ethical billionaire or millionaire. He’s never dreamt of being rich but has considered what he would do if he was rich, and so those are the people he’d enjoy talking to.

Marie Louca was nominated for the Community Involvement category. This is very important to her because she’s been heavily involved for her entire high school career. She loves being involved in different clubs and organizations and participating in events within the community.

When asked about the impact of Pathfinders she stated, “It has allowed me to practice my communication skills, how to properly handle interview conditions, and how to deal effectively under stressful conditions.” She thinks her interview went really well as the judges seemed to be impressed with her work and performance but she wasn’t sure if she won because there were a lot of other great candidates.

Her favorite community service involvement has been the Florida Public Service Association. It has allowed her to meet other firefighters academy and criminal justice academy students who are passionate about their trade like she is, while also exploring more career fields and motivating new students to become a part of this organization.

Zephaniah was nominated for the Art category. It meant a lot to her to know that her art is getting the recognition it needs and provide her the opportunity to receive a scholarship because it is an accomplishment in itself.

When asked about the process she said, “The process of Pathfinders prepared me for real-world things, without that I probably still would not know how to properly carry out an interview in the future. Also, if I were to get the scholarship, I would be able to put that towards college in the future, and it could help me out.”

However, she’s not too sure if she won because she was talking to some of the other candidates and believes that they did very well and had some strong art pieces. Yet, she thinks that she did fairly well even though she was nervous. She was able to recall a lot of tactics while talking and believed that her efforts would pay off at the award ceremony.

When asked if she could have one famous art piece in her living room, she said, “It would be a piece by Jean Michel Basquiat. His art is just very nice to look at, there is so much that you figure out just by looking at it for a little bit, I love the way he tells a lot just with one painting.”