Hialeah student celebrated for academic achievements before heading to the Ivy League

One South Florida high school graduate is proving to be a superstar trainee Maurits Acosta is a Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School scholar that will be making his way to Harvard in the fall His school made sure to surprise him on Tuesday morning with an all-school event to honor his long list of academic and personal achievements including an acknowledgement from the national Making A Difference On AND Off The Field campaign presented by Buddy s Helpers previous honors There has not been a candidate athlete that comes within a football field of what you ve done noted Joe Trost of Buddy s Helpers who presented Acosta with a check and honors Besides getting into an Ivy League university Acosta was elected to lead the county wide pupil executive revived his schools golf group started a nonprofit as a volunteer and was the Office of the Superintendent of Schools only intern You know anyone that you talk to from the middle school saying that he s a legend there they re having an award already named after him The impact that he s made at this school noted Trost We pushed him out of their comfort zone in order to be more than they think they can accomplish and Maurits is a prime example of that says Juan Ramirez the school s principal Again starting his own non-for-profit being a Miami Herald Silver Knight winner It s just that fostering atmosphere that we have here at Hialeah Miami Lakes Senior High School The aspirant athlete was met with applause and cheers as he entered his school s celebration We didn t know what coming in the future with Maurits but now really we know commented his father Sergio Acosta To be recognized this day in this way is really special to me commented Acosta after the surprise I think it s a testament to the work that I ve been able to do in Miami-Dade County For me it s dependably been mostly about passion I m really passionate about civic engagement and that s a lot of the work I ve done in Miami-Dade County As he wrapped up his senior year he left his classmates with advice Follow what you re passionate about he says You know it s not constantly about the test scores It s not inevitably about the grades Just do what you re happy with And whether that s art or science or innovation or humanities whatever it is find that passion and use that passion to make a positive difference in your group And if you do that I think you re set in life A passion that certainly will propel him to success in college and beyond