You have probably seen her walking around the halls helping teachers, wearing her scrubs, or dressed up for a presentation. You could have also seen her in the BETA room, and you will always find her cheering at school pep rallies. She is the quintessential MHS student—involved, intelligent, determined, and passionate. Cassandra Cardenas is also the creator of one of Miami High’s newest clubs.

Law and Leadership Honor Society

Law and Leadership Honor Society began all the way back during Cassandra’s 8^th grade year. During her last year at Shenandoah Middle School, she was fortunate to have Ms. Davalyn Suarez as a Language Arts teacher.

“Ever since Ms. Suarez and I met, we clicked, and she became a mentor for me when I met with her again during my sophomore year,” said Cassandra.

Both discussed the importance of students being able to meet other leaders in the community. They were also motivated by the fact that there was a club to represent the teaching magnet, but no club for the law magnet. Ms. Suarez asked Cassandra if she would be interested in being president of the club, and she gladly accepted the position.

Creating Law and Leadership Honor Society was a lot of work. Cassandra admits that filling out the financial forms was complicated, but coming up with a name was more difficult. “We must’ve gone through at least a handful of names before coming up with the one we have now,” she said.

Now as president, Cassandra has many responsibilities. She is in charge of making sure events sponsored by the club run smoothly. She also has to make sure the other officers are doing their jobs.

Cassandra points with pride to some of LLHS’s accomplishments, especially last year’s school wide community service they hosted for Feed My Starving Children. The other big accomplishment has been their Lunch with a Judge series in which several students have been able to participate and gain information on college and careers.

“In my eyes, LLHS has been an instant success,” she said. She hopes that when she leaves Miami High, her successors will continue to help LLHS thrive and become an even better club.

Life at Miami High

Besides being president of LLHS, Cassandra is 2^nd vice president of NHS, secretary of SHS, and a member of BETA, Mu Alpha Theta, English Honor Society, and SGA. Though, she is very involved in school, she still manages to be at the top of her class.

She explains, “Managing my school work and extracurricular activities requires planning and time management, something I’ve gotten better at with experience.”

She was also class historian during her sophomore and junior years. She became a class officer to have an influence over the activities that occur during the school year. Her best memory as a class officer was hanging out with the other officers, making banners, and helping out at the school store.

However, the hardest part of the job was preparing everything for homecoming. Cassandra decided to run for SGA president last year, as it had always been a dream of hers, but she was not successful. Otherwise, she would have remained class historian.

Her best moment at Miami High has been winning the Dartmouth Book Award her junior year. “That showed me that all my hard work had paid off and that my effort was being recognized,” she said. Winning the award has allowed her to reflect on her accomplishments for the 2015-2016 school year, motivating her to show the same determination her senior year.

Cassandra is very adamant that she made the best choice by coming to Miami High. She absolutely loves the atmosphere and size of Miami High. She also explains that the teachers that she has had, have enriched her experience. “My teachers have all been remarkable and have helped me grow as a student and as a young woman,” she said.

Academic Life 

Cassandra is at the top of her class, with a 3.9 unweighted GPA and a 4.83 weighted GPA. In her three years at Miami High, Cassandra has managed to take six AP classes and one Dual Enrollment class.

She explains that her hardest class has been AP Chemistry, which she took her sophomore year. “At the beginning, I thought I had it down because I had passed Chemistry Honors during my freshman year with A’s. However, AP Chemistry was a completely different story. It wasn’t that the material was necessarily hard, but it did require lots of time for studying, which at that time I failed to acknowledge.”

Her favorite class at Miami High has been AP Research, which she took with Dr. DeNight. The class required her to do an actual research project, and she focused on the impact that body image can have on girls’ academic performance. “Even though it was rigorous and difficult, I enjoyed what I did and learned,” she said.

As a senior, Cassandra has quite a rigorous schedule with Probability and Statistics Honors, AP Literature, Anatomy & Physiology, AP Macroeconomics, Monitor, Drawing 1 and Health Science Level 4 which takes up two periods.

Cassandra decided to take the plunge and commit to completing Ms. Turner’s Health Science Senior Program. The program requires a lot of hard work, but it allows students to become certified medical assistants in a year’s time.

Originally, she only took Health Science to fill in another elective. However, as her freshman year came to an end, “I realized I really liked medicine and might actually have a knack for it, so ever since I’ve continued the program with continuous A’s and passed my EKG Certification Exam,” she said.

Personal Life 

Cassandra Cardenas was born to Cuban parents on December 19, 1998, at Kendall Regional Hospital. She has three older sisters all in their late 20’s and early 30’s.

She attended Kensington Park Elementary and then moved on to Shenandoah Middle School.

In her free time, Cassandra likes to hang out with her friends and family. An avid traveler, she has been to Orlando, California (Long Beach, Los Angeles, Bakersfield), New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn), Atlanta, and Tampa. Her favorite place is Los Angeles due to its diversity and pop culture.

In the future, Cassandra plans to pursue a career as an OB/GYN, (Obstetrician and Gynecologist). Her dream school is the University of Miami, but her back-up choice is Florida International University.