{"id":367312,"date":"2026-08-10T09:32:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T09:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367312\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T09:32:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T09:32:40","slug":"27-promising-tampa-bay-area-young-adults-receive-gte-student-scholarships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367312\/","title":{"rendered":"27 promising Tampa Bay area young adults receive GTE student scholarships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nyiah Hill is a rising sophomore at the Savannah College of Art and Design<\/a> and a marketing intern at GTE Financial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Tampa-based credit union gave her and 27 other local students $3,000 to put towards their education.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people tell you art school is too expensive and not worth it, but this scholarship definitely proved otherwise,” Hill said. <\/p>\n

Last week, GTE Financial hosted a back-to-school luncheon for recipients, parents and selection committee members \u2014 including former USF President Rhea Law \u2014 to mark the awards’ 15th anniversary.<\/p>\n

The TPepin Hospitality Centre was decked out in pink, a thematic tradition GTE has followed since the scholarship program launched in 2012. <\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Bright Futures could expand to encourage more military families to participate<\/a><\/p>\n

Keynote speaker Lane Komara enjoys working with horses. He also mentored children as a member of the Future Farmers of America<\/a> and 4-H<\/a> agricultural clubs at Crystal River High School.<\/p>\n

He plans to use his scholarship funds to pursue an associate’s degree before transferring into the University of Florida’s veterinary sciences program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It’s a big honor,” Komara reflected. “Just proves that someone sees all the hard work and dedication I’ve put in to where I am today.” <\/p>\n

Vanessa Matosdeaza-Defilo is getting ready for her freshman year at the University of North Florida, where she intends to major in nursing. <\/p>\n

“I’m most excited to learn about nutrition and everything that’s good for the body, and to be able to use that knowledge to help my community,” she said. <\/p>\n

Matosdeaza-Defilo recently graduated from Gulf High School, where she ran track and served in student government. Her father, who’s been a GTE member for two decades, encouraged her to apply for the scholarship. <\/p>\n

Other 2026 recipients are headed to schools such as Pace University, the University of South Florida, and the Moody Bible Institute. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

TPepin’s Hospitality Center in Temple Terrace got a pink makeover for GTE Financial’s back-to-school luncheon. <\/p>\n

GTE Financial is a not-for-profit, member-owned financial cooperative that provides lower-cost loan options<\/a> and fixed-rate mortgages<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In addition, GTE fundraises<\/a> for a different charity each month and awards grants<\/a> to Tampa Bay nonprofits. <\/p>\n

CEO Brian Best says the scholarship program is a core operation for the credit union, one of the first<\/a> to form in the United States. <\/p>\n

“Credit unions were born back in the 1900s on people serving people,” Best said. “College and universities’ tuition have gone up quite a bit, so now is the time to really help out and try and fund some of these things.”<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Florida budget spares over 20,000 state-funded college scholarships<\/a><\/p>\n

He said the scholarship selection is holistic, with community involvement, academic achievement and character also being taken into account. <\/p>\n

No single figure defines a candidate, and committee members consider what socioeconomic barriers students may face in seeking a certain number of volunteer hours or a higher grade-point average. <\/p>\n

“GPA is one little fraction, but that’s two-dimensional,” Best said. “At the end of the day, we look at that and say, ‘Hey, are they lifting the community up? Do they have perseverance?'” <\/p>\n

GTE accepts student scholarship applications<\/a> each year from February through June, with winners announced in August. A 300-word essay accounts for half an applicant’s score.<\/p>\n

Eligible candidates are GTE Financial members who are either starting college or currently enrolled at an accredited vocational school or four-year degree program. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nyiah Hill is a rising sophomore at the Savannah College of Art and Design and a marketing intern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-367312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}