A Surprise Winner

Last year 76 seniors were chosen from 65 San Antonio high schools to share in $590,000 in scholarships through the Valero Alamo Bowl Student-Athlete program.

Brennan High School's Garret Reger was not one of them despite finishing at the top of his class academically while playing football and juggling two part-time jobs.

Three weeks before starting his freshman year at UTSA this Fall, I told Garret one of our winners had received an appointment to the Naval Academy and had given back his scholarship.

That meant our Selection Committee was going to award that scholarship to one of our alternates. While Garret was the only alternate invited to our "interview," we decided to to surprise him in person with his $7,5000 scholarship.

Because of his outstanding academic success, Garret’s first two years of college are already paid for; however, this Valero Alamo Bowl scholarship is helping him to pay for books and cover numerous fees. To make funds go even further, Garret is choosing to live at home.

“There is so much stress in starting college, for parents and students who are trying to make sure they have enough money to cover everything," Garret shared. "This $7,500 is a huge boost and makes the experience and process so much more enjoyable for all of us. Thank you to the Valero Alamo Bowl. I wasn’t expecting to get this scholarship so this surprise is something I’m extremely grateful for.”

This year, the Valero Alamo Bowl will again choose at least one scholarship winner from every participating San Antonio area public and established private school.

Winners will be announced at a luncheon courtesy of H-E-B on December 13. Then, their families will receive tickets to the Valero Alamo Bowl on December 28 courtesy of Frost to watch their sons and daughters be recognized on the field during the first half.

While Garret missed out on last year’s on-field recognition, he's off to a fast start at UTSA and has a bright future. We are looking forward to hosting him as our guest at the 25th Anniversary Valero Alamo Bowl.

Joining him at the game will be the 64 college juniors and seniors that were selected from the San Antonio’s six four-year universities to share over $420,000 via our inaugural Valero Alamo Bowl Community Partners scholarship. While our high school program allows winners to attend the college of their choice, this new program focuses students interested in working in San Antonio after their graduate.

Thank you to H-E-B, Shining Star ENERGY, Valero and the six San Antonio universities who helped us achieve record scholarships giving this year. Please let me if you would like to partner with us to expand our program for 2018.

Our selection process for our Valero Alamo Bowl Student-Athlete program starts November 3 which is the deadline for San Antonio area high schools to turn in their nominations. The winners will be notified in early December.

Hopefully there will be plenty of applicants as deserving as Garret.