By Emily Chaffins -

MIAMI | Anabella Alvarez was a sophomore at St. Brendan High School in Miami when an Advancement Placement (AP) computer science class changed her life.

Studying how online scammers take advantage of the elderly made Anabella aware of the community’s need. During a junior-year visit to the Palmer House Catholic Housing Management senior living community in September 2023, as part of St. Brendan’s Alpha Program for academically advanced students, she realized she could make a real impact.

“I thought it would be great if someone could organize classes and teach them about technology,” recalled Anabella, a parishioner at St. Timothy Parish in Miami.

Anabella established CyberWise Seniors, a nonprofit organization that strives to equip the elderly to navigate technology independently and safely. By March 2024, she had put her idea into action, hosting her first event for senior citizens.

“The classes range anywhere from how to send a text, to how to take and send a picture, to scanning QR codes and avoiding any scams on the phone,” she explained.

A unique offering is “Emoji Bingo,” a game that helps seniors identify the meaning of each of the symbols. CyberWise Seniors also hosts “technology scavenger hunts.”

“I’ll put clues around the activity room, and I’ll assign each (participant) a card, and they have to go around answering all the questions on how to use their phones,” Anabella explained. Past prizes have included Publix gift cards and even a mug with chocolates for Valentine’s Day.

More than 10 other students, most of them high schoolers, donate their time to the nonprofit.

“I think the generation gap is growing a lot between us kids and seniors, and I think a big part of it is communication and technology. I think that by having younger people help older people use their phones, it helps strengthen that connection,” she said. “We have so much to learn from them because they know so many things we haven’t experienced yet, but at the same time, we have things that we can teach them, too. So I think it’s an exchange,” she added.

Anabella frequently assisted her own grandparents with technology and believes she has received so much back from their relationship.

“My grandparents would always teach me about their time in Cuba... but they could never really get the hang of technology,” she said. “They were always curious to learn. My grandpa was born in 1930, so he was born with the wall telephone, like in Mary Poppins,” she joked.

“They had to adapt to so many phones and so much technology. They needed the extra boost to help them keep up,” she added. “But I was also thinking that there are so many people in nursing homes who don’t have the connection with their grandkids or someone younger to help them with their phone. That’s kind of how the idea for my service project came up.”

Since March 2024, Anabella has hosted approximately 10 classes at various senior living locations, as well as recorded Facebook video tutorials. She was nominated for the 2025 Miami Herald Silver Knight award in the business category.

With a passion for computer science since third grade, Anabella will begin studying data analytics and intelligence for social impact at the University of Miami in Fall 2025. She aspires to become a lawyer.

Continuing her work for CyberWise Seniors, Anabella is training other instructors to extend the nonprofit’s reach and plans to post more videos as well.

“One of the most rewarding experiences, especially when I return to the Palmer House, is seeing the growth and how much they’ve learned,” she said. “They eventually get to the point where one who was struggling at the beginning can help the others, becoming more of a teacher.”

For Anabella, that’s what getting “cyber wise” is all about.

FIND OUT MORE

• For more information about CyberWise Seniors or to arrange for classes, contact the organization on Instagram: @cyberwiseseniors.