The Silver Knight Award is a scholarship program recognizing students who exhibit exemplary academic success and contribute significant service to their schools and communities. High school seniors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties may be nominated in 15 categories. Krop’s Silver Knight nominees for the senior class of 2023 are as follows:

Luciano Bogomolni, Arts 

Senior Luciano Bogomolni works alongside the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), the largest voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting blood cancer in the world. In his junior year, he was part of a team that raised over $50,000 through fundraisers, sponsorships and donations. This year, Luciano took it a step further and became the leader of a fundraising team that is estimated to raise a total of $100,000, with 100 percent of the proceeds being donated to the organization. 

Isabella Romeo, Athletics

For her community service project, Isabella Romeo and her sister Brianna worked with St. Vincent DePaul, an international voluntary organization in the Catholic church, to aid less fortunate groups in South Florida. Romeo worked on packaging boxes of food to be distributed throughout the community. With help from volunteers like Romeo, St. Vincent DePaul can provide food and financial assistance to the underprivileged community. 

Sofia Torres, Business

Senior Sofia Torres created the Tordu Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to assist underprivileged children in Colombia. Doing community work in Colombia is near to Torres’ heart, as her family was brought up in Bogota. In March of 2022, she donated over 450 pairs of shoes and 2,000 pairs of socks to orphanages in Colombia. On Christmas Eve, the Tordu Foundation hosted an event at the orphanage La Casa de Madre y el Niño, where Torres arranged for entertainers, cotton candy, face-painting stations, and a toy and new outfit for every child.

Josh Katz, Digital and Interactive Media 

Working as a marketer for Zen Gems, senior Josh Katz organized a project in partnership with the company Ecologi to plant trees throughout Madagascar. Katz worked with Ecologi to allocate profits by donating a percentage of every sale made to their company in return for funding his project. He dedicated over 500 hours of his time speaking with representatives, overseeing sales, and advocating for his cause. With Katz’s help, over 6,000 trees were planted within a six-month period.

Jack Furman, English & Literature

For the past four years, senior Jack Furman has been spearheading book drives throughout the community to improve literacy, both locally and internationally. This year, he partnered with the Aventura library along with the Aventura Mall to donate books of all genres to various agencies such as Achieve Miami and Improving Literacy, Fort Lauderdale. Furman also donates books to nursing homes, multicultural centers, and small villages in Ghana, Africa. 

Elliot Saye, General Scholarship

Over the past few years, Elliot Saye has been working with Cadena International, a non-profit organization that brings aid to underprivileged communities and victims of natural disasters in times of need. Saye is the South Florida Youth Coordinator who oversees all of the club chapters of Cadena, and is the president of its chapter here at Krop. Most recently, he organized a community-wide drive, collecting food, clothing, and toiletries for Hurricane Ian victims in Fort Myers, Florida. 

Casey Critz, Journalism

Senior Casey Critz spent her freshman and sophomore summers volunteering for the largest women’s shelter in the country, Lotus House. Her passion for their movement followed into her senior year when Critz organized a school-wide drive at Krop for the women and children living in these shelters. She collected over 30 bags of clothing, two baby strollers, and various feminine hygiene products. 

Salomon Feldman, Mathematics 

In his freshman year, Salomon Feldman began working with the U.S. Immigration Coalition to help immigrants from all across the globe become U.S. citizens. He helps immigrant families obtain fee waivers for those who can not pay to apply for citizenship. Feldman further went on to create his own organization called American Dream Makers, which financially aids immigrants in gaining access to the United States today. 

Brianna Romeo, Music & Dance

Senior Brianna Romeo works alongside her sister Isabella to provide for the underprivileged community. She was nominated in the music and dance category for her musical aptitude exemplified in the Krop student band, where she plays the euphonium and trombone.   For Romeo’s community service project, she volunteers for the non-profit organization St. Vincent De Paul to pack and distribute food across the South Florida community. 

Alan Dejman, Science

While working as a high school intern for NASA, senior Alan Dejman is participating in the Global Lunar Expedition For Everyone (GLEE) mission. The GLEE mission is a partnership between 22 countries that aims to build 500 mini-cube satellites to be sent to the moon and analyzed by scientists for us to have unfiltered public data about the surface of the moon.  Dejman is collaborating with the Colorado and Texas Space Grant Consortium to build two of these satellites. The mission is estimated to launch in 2024.  

Emily Milfort, Social Science

In partnership with the Scholarship Thriving and Achieving Resolute Success Project, senior Emily Milfort mentors minority students (grades 10-12) at Florida high schools by educating in scholarship opportunities, resume building, SAT tutoring, internships and more. She conducts workshops every few weeks for 1-2 hours a week. Milfort aims to prepare students for the next level in matriculating and excelling in high school by providing them with an opportunity that they would not have had otherwise.  

Willayja Williams, Vocational Technical

During the pandemic, Willayja Williams took an interest in reading books to her younger siblings and cousins. This inspired her to provide this same experience to other children who lack access to reading and educational material. Williams constructed a website where people can donate books to students in underprivileged communities across Florida, which she would then personally bring to schools, and read to their classes. Such an abundance was raised that for every book she read to a class, there would be enough for every student to take a copy home as well. 

Eleazar Cohen, World Languages

Senior Eleazar Cohen works as an advocate for pride in culture diversity among minority groups in the community. Having come to the U.S. from Venezuela at 9 years old, Cohen said he had a hard time speaking out. Through his work, Cohen strives to help young immigrants feel comfortable freely expressing themselves. He most recently organized a drive to send clothes and necessities to immigrants at the border. In partnership with the National Spanish Honor Society, Cohen established a diversity week at Krop, in which participants crafted posters and made meals representing their home countries.