MIAMI (WSVN) - A South Florida high school senior earned good grades and is now getting a high honor as he heads to college in the fall.
Ezekiel Hobbs is a top student at Booker T. Washington High School and broke down in tears after he heard he was awarded the Stanley G. Tate Florida Prepaid scholarship, worth $30,000.
Hobbs earned a 4.3 GPA and is in the top two percent of his graduating class.
“I know that me growing up and going through a lot, education has just been something I always believed in,” Hobbs said, “knowing that it will take me to different places in life.”
The star student is expected to attend Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) and hopes to get a degree in journalism.
Those who have supported him are excited for what’s to come. “I’ve always known, since he was a little boy,” said Hobbs’ mother, Riva Perryman, “that he was going to grow up and do great things, so I’m very proud of him.”
Rick Freedman, the scholarship chairperson for Biscayne Bay Kiwanis Club said Hobbs was the perfect candidate. “He’s the type of man that we want to be able to say, ‘Here! Take it! Run with it and go to college,'” he said.
The Biscayne Bay Kiwanis Club looks at community service, grades, AP courses and leadership skills to make their choice.
“He was not only in the National Honor Society, he was president of it,” Freedman said. “He was not only Quill and Scroll, but he was president of it. He was not only on the yearbook staff, but he was editor of it.”
Hobbs is planning to take those accolades and work ethic to the next level but says he has some advice for other students. “You may fall, but you’re never supposed to stay down,” he said. “Just always stay focused and believe that you’re going to be something and don’t let anything affect you.”
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