HELOTES, Texas — Lucas Fitzgerald has been a tennis player since he was young.

“I started playing when I was about 4 years old, and then I just kind of grew a love for it,” he said.

A senior at Sandra Day O’Connor High School, he’s now leading his team as the captain. He considers that a huge honor and very humbling.

“It’s just been a great experience,” he said.

When he first entered high school, Lucas was able to get some help from his brother.

“Having him there was very helpful for me,” he explained, “because I had someone on the team to help motivate me to be better.”

Fitzgerald playing tennis. (Spectrum News 1/Kelly Lafargue)

But his determination doesn’t stop with sports; Lucas is also active in Boy Scouts and other extracurricular activities.

“I became an Eagle Scout through Boy Scouts, and I feel like it was very important to me,” he said. “It’s just good to give back to the community”

Holding a 4.0 GPA, he was invited to attend the Northside Leadership Summit where he learned lessons about communication and teamwork.

“You’re not going to always be right, and you’re going to have to listen to multiple perspectives,” he said. “It was just a very good learning curve for me because there’s a lot of qualities of being a leader that I didn’t have yet.”

The Spectrum News 1 Scholar Athlete Program recognizes exceptional public high school student athletes with academic scholarship awards of $1,000 each for use towards college expenses. If you know a teen you’d like to nominate, click here to learn more.