Forest Hill valedictorian thrives by giving back to community
It’s not a stretch to say Natalie Gonzalez’s heart is bigger than her mind — figuratively speaking, of course, because her wealth of knowledge is quite impressive, as this year’s valedictorian of Forest Hill High School.
Gonzalez, 18, of West Palm Beach, dedicates most of her time outside the classroom to making sure others are living their best lives.
Perhaps her proudest moment in high school was raising $200 worth of school supplies and donating them to under-served classmates.
It was during the summer before her senior year that she participated in a food drive held for the school and discovered 86 percent of students she interacted with daily were undernourished, receiving free or reducedprice lunch.
And so her big heart connected
to her brain and a light bulb went off.
In two weeks, Gonzalez collected enough money and took off to Walmart so 40 students could have a complete set of the essential supplies to succeed in school.
Gonzalez, the daughter of immigrant parents, understands what it’s like to move to another country with very little. “Another student should be given the same opportunity.”
She is also involved in several service organizations, including one spearheaded by a fellow classmate called Princesses Against Cancer. What initially started as a project turned into a fullfledged program where a group of Forest Hill students dress up as Disney princesses to surprise and interact with children battling diseases in area hospitals.
Last year, Princesses was named a Palm Beach Philanthropy Tank winner and awarded a $10,000 grant.
Gonzalez also takes pride in her activism with Forest Hill’s Key Club chapter, which she started at as a freshman at Wellington High. She was promoted to project manager her junior year, where she was put in charge of coming up with innovative volunteer opportunities and the group’s social media pages.
So with everything going on in Gonzalez’s life, you might ask how she managed a 3.98 GPA and a 5.4 HPA.
Gonzalez made the goal seem simple: “Get as many A’s as possible.”
Gonzalez said she’ll be attending the University of California at Berkeley. She will double-major in neurobiology and cognitive science with a minor in political science.
Gonzalez would like other students to know “It doesn’t matter what school or where you come from, with hard work, you can accomplish anything.”