“Good Morning Jags!” blares over the intercom at 7:50 am as Mikayla Hines yells over the Pembroke Pines Charter High School (PPCHS) morning announcements. To some students, having the duty of morning announcements may seem embarrassing, but to Mikayla Hines, this is her average morning as a PPCHS student.
Hines, a junior at PPCHS, has been a part of several different clubs since her freshman year and has worked her way up to six separate board positions as well as running the morning announcements since her sophomore year. Once she became a freshman at Charter, she found a passion for school clubs. To her they are not just a hobby, they are her life. Hines explains why she started to get involved and how she fell in love with them.
“I think it starts how all things start, with love. Over my time at this school, the one thing that’s kept me going each day, were my clubs.”
To her, getting involved in clubs and organizations is not just for college applications; it’s about helping others.“Planning, preparing and helping out at school meetings and events fills me with such joy, and I’ve genuinely grown to love all of the clubs and organizations I am a part of and want to help each one of them meet their potential.”
She’s the secretary of Key Club, a club that is a leadership and community service, as well as holding the position of outreach director for the National Honor Society (NHS) and National English Honor Society (NEHS). She’s also the Treasurer for Girls Who Code, a women’s STEM leadership club.
Despite all of her other responsibilities, Hines maintains that her main focus out of all of her extracurriculars is Charter’s Model UN, a popular club where students role-play as members of the United Nations to solve real-world problems. As the club’s official Parliamentarian, she feels as if Model UN is where she makes the biggest difference.
When she’s not at her other club meetings, Hines enjoys spending most of her free time at club meetings for Jaguars 4 Justice, of which she’s the Mock Trial Director. As someone whose passion lies in the criminal justice field, Hines aims to use Jaguars 4 Justice to practice for her anticipated future as a lawyer. The club hosts mock trials for and by students at PPCHS and helps her pursue and learn about her passion further.
To Hines, leadership is not just a thought or a skill, it is her life and her love. Throughout her years at PPCHS, she’s found her community and her home among Charter’s many clubs, and hopes that her leadership among them will leave a lasting mark in PPCHS history.
