As part of Gators Experience 2025, four Florida gymnasts shared their knowledge with children in the Dominican Republic and learnt something new themselves.
Juniors Kayla DiCello, Gabby Disidore and Skylar Draser and senior Selena Harris-Miranda joined eight other student-athletes in the Dominican Republic.
Through Gators Experience, student-athletes work to define and achieve their non-athletic life goals. The 10-day trip to Santo Domingo was one destination in the program.
Shandy Dawkins, assistant director of leadership development at Gators Experience and former University of Florida graduate student, is one of the many people who work alongside the athletes to help them achieve their aspirations.
“Our primary goal is to make sure student-athletes are prepared for life after their sport, whatever that looks like,” Dawkins said.
The trip was the third of its kind from Gators Experience, preceded by trips to Costa Rica and Spain. The group returned to the Caribbean because Dawkins and her team found the service meaningful. It allowed student-athletes to immerse themselves in a new culture where their work has an impact, Dawkins said.
In the Dominican Republic, the student-athletes took walking and boat tours, visited museums and parks, hiked and paddle boarded.
Harris-Miranda said the most impactful part of the trip was meeting and playing sports with children at Club Deportivo Renacimiento, Boca Chica, a volleyball and basketball camp. The student-athletes spent time with the kids, fed them lunch and helped paint their gym.
“It definitely was what I was looking for,” Harris-Miranda said. “To connect more with my Hispanic heritage, as well as going down and helping kids and inspiring them and being inspired by them, I think the trip met all my expectations.”
The gymnasts weren’t heavily involved with Gators Experience before but were drawn to the trip because of the growth opportunities it provided. They were selected due to their prior dedication to community service, united in their desire to explore a new country and engage in impactful community service.
“I love anything that helps the community, and being able to go to another country and see what that is like was something that drew me to this,” DiCello said.
Working with the kids was her favorite part. DiCello was happy to see the children excited to play, get more comfortable together and interact despite a language barrier, she said.
As a health education and behavior major, Skylar Draser was also excited to bond with the children and her goal was to go in with an open mind and learn about a different culture.
“When we got there, the kids were just so happy to see us,” Draser said. “They wanted to show us what they do on a daily basis and how they express their sports and how their community is together.”
Harris-Miranda also connected with the children and appreciated the learning experience.
“I just wanted to be able to get a different perspective on how other kids enjoy sports,” Harris-Miranda said. “[To see] how connected we could be through sports and teaching them drills and meeting them but also switching cultures.”
As they spent days playing with the children, the student-athletes were able to get to know each other better.
The gymnasts traveled with the men’s and women’s track and field, softball and women’s swimming and diving athletes.
DiCello enjoyed bonding with other student-athletes.
“I didn’t really know some of the other athletes that were there,” DiCello said. “Just being able to be with them during the community service and outside of it and getting to know them a little better, I thought that was really great.”
They worked together to overcome the language barrier, Draser added, which brought them closer together.
They found the hindrance to be overwhelming at first but eventually found ways to connect with the children using hand signals and body language, Harris-Miranda said.
All three were grateful for the experience, which highlighted how fortunate they are for the education and competitive experience they have at UF.
“You can tell they really connected [with the children] and grew as people during the experience,” Dawkins said.
Contact Ava DiCecca at adicecca@alligator.org. Follow her on X @avadicecca24.
