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Honors students win prestigious scholarships

Monday, Apr 11, 2011
Loraine O'Connell

The Oviedo Campus is one of two locations for the Art & Phyllis Grindle Honors Institute.

Daniel Leon

Juan Robayo

Seminole State honors students Daniel Leon and Juan Robayo have been named to the 2011 Coca-Cola Community College Academic Team and were featured in USA Today on Monday, April 11.

The two were selected based on their commitment to community service and on scores earned in the All-USA Community College Academic Team competition. More than 1,600 students competed.

As Central Florida’s only Gold

Scholar, Leon, 21, of Lake Mary, will receive a $1,500 stipend. Leon, one of only 50 Gold Scholars nationwide, says he’ll use the award toward books and tuition at American University in Washington, D.C., where he’ll be going after graduating from Seminole State in April.

“The scholarship is an honor because it recognizes the community service I was able to do,” Leon says. His efforts included tutoring students, raising money to help the homeless and conducting community seminars about privacy rights.

Robayo, 21, of Oviedo, was named one of only 50 Silver Scholars in the country. His $1,250 award will go toward books and tuition at the University of Central Florida, Robayo says. His plan is to major in biotechnology and molecular biology and then attend medical school. Eventually, he’d like to practice medicine in the rural areas of his native Colombia. Robayo is one of only two Silver Scholars in Central Florida.

Students are nominated by their respective colleges to the All-USA Academic Team competition, which is sponsored by USA Today and Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year colleges.

Seminole State was one of only three colleges in Florida to have multiple scholarship winners.

The Art & Phyllis Grindle Honors Institute offers programs for students who want to enrich their academic experience at Seminole State College. For more information, please visit the Honors Institute online, or call 407.708.2062.