Miami Southridge Senior High School Honors Class of 2020

MIAMI, FL — Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Miami Southridge Senior High School are honoring the Class of 2020 to coincide with the school's virtual graduation on June 9.

The school is highlighting three students below who represent the achievements of the entire graduating class.

Boni Abdulali

Boni Abdulali enrolled in high school as an unaccompanied minor through the Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program. Much of his biological family was displaced or killed during the ongoing ethnic and land disputes in Northwestern Myanmar. Despite these challenges, Boni has chosen to persevere. He was active in the World Languages Club, art programs and ROTC. He currently aspires to join a branch of the U.S. military to serve the nation that has provided him refuge.

Logan Alvarez

Logan Alvarez is an incredibly caring student and talented athlete who wants to make sure that all students are included in the high school experience. For example, he is the President of both the school's Best Buddies Club and the College Club. He is always fighting so that all students are treated with respect. So he became the sponsor of the school’s "Say No To 'R' Word" campaign month. He also had an active role in the Anti-Bully lunch program and became the Secretary of the school's S.T.A.N.D. Club.

For his advocacy work in unifying the high school experience, Logan became the inaugural recipient of the onePULSE Foundation Legacy Scholarship. In fact, he created a unified volunteer group to run Special Olympics Area Softball skills competition for the elementary and middle school students. This began a rewarding relationship with the Special Olympics which resulted in obtaining the Special Olympics 2019 "Family of the Year" award and he then became a member of the Special Olympics Youth Activation Board. As a result, Logan became the Unified Team Captain. A role that, together with his fellow teammates, resulted in ESPN choosing Southridge Senior High to become the Top 5 Unified School Banner Winner.

Logan is partly responsible for the school receiving a Proclamation from the City of Cutler Bay for its participation in the Special Olympics Unified Sports.

And then there is Logan the Captain of the Varsity Football Team, which earned the 2020 Florida Dairy Farmers Academic All-State Team and the 2020 High School Heisman Trophy Winner. Off course, he is the Silver Knight in Athletics.

Academically, Logan is a Brown Book Award Winner, a Top Scholar Awardee from Miami-Dade County Public School's Board Member Dr. Lawrence Feldman and both the recipient of the Excellence Award and the Proclamation for Citizenship from Miami-Dade County Public School's Board Member Lubby Navarro. He is graduating Summa Cum Laude, a recipient of the Comcast Scholarship and will he will be attending Florida International University in the fall.

Cedric Sawyer

Cedric Sawyer is a senior at Miami Southridge Senior High School. He has been a part of many school organizations including the debate team, dance team, and National Science Honors Society.

Growing up as a ward of the state influenced Cedric to take a stand against all violence. He is a leader in the C.O.R.D Ministry, a youth ministry, which has allowed Cedric to be a peer counselor.

At Southridge, Cedric implemented and created field days, facilitated in-school workshop sessions/panels on violence prevention, and spoke to state politicians on the need for increased child advocacy. He is a member of the Sandy Hook National Youth Advisory Board. Cedric has been awarded a full scholarship to the University of Florida where he will enter as a junior and major in Pre-Law and dance. He will be receiving his associate degree from Miami-Dade College alongside his high school diploma.

In an effort to ensure that the Class of 2020 graduates at Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) receive the pomp and circumstance they deserve, the District is holding virtual graduation ceremonies for each high school. The live streaming of each virtual graduation, as well as a schedule of ceremonies and a video archive can be accessed by visiting Classof2020.dadeschools.net. The ceremonies are also televised on WLRN Channel 17.

The virtual commencement ceremonies will be followed by an in-person Class of 2020 celebration at each high school either in the summer or winter, once it is safe to do so under public health guidelines.

In addition to the virtual ceremonies, the District has launched a marketing campaign to highlight outstanding seniors, and invite the community to celebrate graduates on social media using the following hashtags: #MDCPSGrad, #Classof2020, #MeetMDCPSGrads and #SeniorSpotlight.