Tomorrow's Leaders Celebrated Today: City Pledges College Scholarships If Kids Keep Up Their Grades, Stay Out of Trouble

Some of tomorrow's leaders were celebrated this morning, when St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster and the Pinellas County Schools' Foundation honored top city students at the Coliseum.

Some 62 students along with their families and a cheerleading squad from John Hopkins Middle School attended the event. The students, from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, were awarded a four-year college tuition scholarship voucher for virtues of getting good grades, good behavior and remaining crime and drug free.

The funding for the scholarships came from the Mayor's, Mentors and More program, which began in 2001 and has awarded 1,120 Doorways scholarships.

The Mayor's, Mentors and More program is where local business, citizens and even St. Petersburg city employees donate funds to a scholarship program. Each of this morning's students honored received $2,900 from this program, which was matched by the Pinellas Education Foundation to raise each amount to $5,800.

That figure was then matched by the State of Florida to bring the total amount each student will receive for college tuition to $11,600, which will be vested by the sixth grade.

Foster used the occasion for a number of sports analogies. He likened the event to the celebrated signing day each February where high school football stars choose the college to which they will play for.

So much is made of shrinking "budgets and bad kids," Foster said. "Here, we are celebrating the good kids, the ones that are definitely going to make it. These are my all stars."

One of Foster's all stars is Joseph Enriquez, a sixth grade student at Meadowlawn Middle School. Though he excels in science, Enriquez is doing his best to try to make sign language mainstream. His aunt, Evelyn, often stays with Enriquez's family as she doesn't have a full-time home and has special needs, specifically, she is deaf and cannot speak.

"My aunt, she cannot speak or hear and that's the only way she can communicate," Enriquez said. "She can't talk or hear. My mom, she knows it pretty well and she taught it to me. Sometimes she lives with my uncle, sometimes she lives with us. Sign language will be helpful in the future."

Enriquez would like to work in a field that would help others learn sign language.