Junior Camilo Alvarez, a high achieving student, is in the top 10% of the class of 2018. “I want to be successful, and I know that school is the way that’s going to happen,” he said.

Camilo is always being encouraged by his parents and his brother to do the best he can in school. “I’d describe my family as a middle class American family with some traditional Hispanic beliefs–politically conservative,” he said.

Studying plays a big role in his academic career. “I spend around 10 hours a week studying. My goal as an academic student is to make myself as attractive as possible to colleges and employers,” he said.

Camilo knows where he is heading. “Right now I’m interested in Michigan University, University of Florida, and Embry Riddle,” he said. However, he is still undecided whether he wants aerospace or biomedical engineering for his career.

Academic Career

Camilo has a weighted G.P.A. of 4.0 and an unweighted of 3.8. Over the years he’s improved academically. “I started off with good study habits in middle school, and I’ve basically had that all throughout high school,” he said.

Camilo has taken 6 A.P. Classes throughout his high school career. This year, he is taking two AP classes (A.P. Chemistry and A.P. Research) and one Dual Enrollment class (DE Writing).

When asked why he chose Miami High, he replied, “I wanted to have a balanced social and academic life,” and he got recommendations for both, especially for Miami High’s band. Camilo likes the fact that the Miami High is underrated, and that it’s also a traditional high school. “It’s a lot better than what people think,” he said.

As a musician in Miami High’s band, Camilo says that practice is important when it comes to learning a new piece. “I usually practice on the weekend between an hour or half an hour and sometimes during the weekdays for about 15 minutes,” he said.

Band Life

The Million Dollar Band has already gone to 2 regional competitions this year and gotten third place. “We also had a district competition and got a superior rating,” he said.

In the band, he’s part of 2 sections: the brass for concerts and woodwinds for jazz. Camilo can play 4 different musical instruments: piano, saxophone, oboe and the bass guitar. It took him 2 years to learn the piano, and about 3 months each for the other ones.

Outside of School

When he’s not in school you might find Camilo doing mixed martial arts or taking piano lessons, which he considers to be hobbies, which take up between 1 to 3 hours per day. He also manages to make time for virtual school, where he is taking a math class.