TAMPA, Fla. — Spectrum Bay News 9 is recognizing amazing young students from across the Bay area.

Each of them is receiving a $1,000 scholarship to the higher education school of their choice.

The latest scholarship winner is Erick Santos, a senior at Leto High School. 

Santos has an impressive 7.18 GPA and his teachers say he’s proven his motivation and commitment time and again.   

Santos, who hasn’t announced a college choice yet, is president of his school’s advancement of individual determination club (AVID).

“I joined, and I thought it was where I wanted to go,” Santos said. “I saw myself in college, I saw myself succeeding, striving for more than everybody else, so I thought I might as well become the leader.”

He even founded his own club at Leto, the Quest for Success, which is where he found his passion for helping people.

“It’s a club to help them with fitness, to help them with their goals, everything like that,” he said. “Once I started getting into that, and I started really realizing I have a love for this, and I realized I want to go into kinesiology so I can become a physical therapist.”

Santos said succeeding despite challenges is something his parents from Cuba have instilled in him.

“My parents came here when I was three years old, and I’ve seen them build themselves up,” he said. “I’ve seen them not come from much, to having what they have now, thankfully, and I feel like as a kid, I adapted that never settle for anything mentality.”