Berkeley Names 50th Anniversary Service Scholar Award Winners
The 50th Anniversary Service Scholar Award was established to celebrate the day Berkeley opened its doors. The annual award recognizes students who exemplify, in an extraordinary way, the essential values of Berkeley Preparatory School: academic excellence, discipline, diligence, integrity and an awareness of and concern for his/her community and the world beyond.
Each award winner will document their service experience and present the experience to their peers. Their presentations will highlight the importance of community service while allowing the recipient to demonstrate leadership skills to their peers. Awards winners use their awards to further their service efforts to benefit others around them.
Tori Ramakrishnan’s project is called “U Serve Tennis Academy.” Tori will partner with the Special Olympics in Hillsborough County in order to teach tennis to kids with special needs.
Anuksha Wickramasinghe plans to further develop her work with the Grace Girls Home in Sri Lanka. She aims to create a program utilizing Berkeley students to help these Sri Lankan girls develop their English proficiency.
Bailie Schock and Iris Casey will use the award to further work they have already begun. Their organization, “Helping Hands Global,” seeks to help girls attend school in Haiti and works to increase English proficiency and cross-cultural understanding through a pen pal project between Berkeley students and Haitian students.
Dev Kapadia found a way to take his love of math and share that with underserved elementary school students in our community. His project entitled “Mula Math” will use math games to spark an interest in mathematics for the students that he serves.
Isabella Schlact developed “Yes, and…,” an improv course taught at area public schools as well as the Redlands Christian Migrant Association Wimauma Academy. Isabella will use this award to expand her reach and partner with the Town ‘n Country chapter of the Boys and Girls Club to teach these students the skills of improv.
Charvi Sharma aims to make a difference for children in the foster care system by making “Boxes of Hope” to include hygiene products as well as some fun items like nail polish, hair ties and make-up. Charvi will use this award to create a fundraising event so that her work can have an even bigger impact on the lives of these foster children.
Congratulations to all of this year’s 50th Anniversary Service Scholar Award winners!
Berkeley Preparatory School
Founded in 1960, Berkeley is an independent, Episcopal, college-preparatory day school located in Tampa, FL, for boys and girls in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12. Approximately 1,400 students gather here from the greater Tampa Bay area to form ONE Berkeley.