David Goldstein wins The Silver Knight Award in Athletics

The KiDZ Neuroscience Center would like to congratulate David Goldstein on his receipt of The Miami Herald’s prestigious Silver Knight Award. According to the Miami Herald website, The Miami Herald Silver Knight Awards is one of the nation’s most highly regarded student awards programs. The purpose of this Awards program is to recognize outstanding students who have not only maintained good grades but have also unselfishly applied their special knowledge and talents to contribute significant service to their schools and communities. The Silver Knight Awards program was instituted at The Miami Herald in 1959 by John S. Knight, past publisher of The Miami Herald, founder and editor emeritus of Knight-Ridder Newspapers and 1968 Pulitzer Prize winner.

Goldstein was presented the award this week for his efforts in sports concussion care.

After suffering his third concussion in four years in a head-to-head collision on a soccer field, David endured months of agonizing headaches that forced him to sleep through part of the school day in the school nurse’s office. When he recovered, he launched a public safety campaign in conjuction with the KiDZ Neuroscience Center at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis that helped change state law to require that high school athletes suspected of suffering a head injury be removed from play until they are cleared by a medical professional. He started Countywide Concussion Care to reduce the dangers of concussions in Miami-Dade County, raised $35,000 to provide concussion testing at dozens of high schools, and became a spokesman for the Florida Brain Injury Association. He was named an AP Scholar with Distinction, was a National Merit semi-finalist and has been admitted to Princeton University in the fall. He still plays soccer, with the aid of a rugby helmet.