San Antonio, Texas – April 21, 2014 – Destiny Castro,a junior soccer player from KIPP University Prep, a charter school in San Antonio, has been selected as an AQUAS (Assistance for Qualified Undergraduate Athletic Students) scholar athlete. Destiny will be graduating in the spring of 2015 and plans to enter college to seek her degree in Business Administration.

AQUAS is a 501 (c)(3) non profit organization that is identifying underserved high school athletes who have demonstrated high academic performance. These students may not have received much national visibility for a number of reasons; thus college coaches are not aware of their skills. AQUAS overcomes that problem as it puts these selected students in front of collegiate athletic departments until the right academic and athletic matches are found.

Destiny has attended KIPP since the fifth grade. She has been playing soccer since she was five years old and has been a starting center mid fielder on the KIPP squad since entering high school. Because of the limited number of young women participating in the soccer program, KIPP has not been able to field a girl’s team so Destiny has been competing on the boy’s squad as a co ed for her three years in high school. Next year, for the first time KIPP will have a girl’s team and Destiny will be the leader of that group. This young athlete does compete on a club team, Lonestar White, playing on an all girl squad.

Destiny Castro is much more than just an athlete. She is a scholar and a member of the National Honor Society. An honor roll student, she embraces the KIPP philosophy of the importance of academic performance, possessing the determination and grit that it takes to get her college education. Destiny has three sisters and a brother that she is setting the standards for, and it is evident that these standards are high.

The Athletic Director of KIPP San Antonio, Travis Boubel, speaks highly of Destiny’s leadership traits and looks forward to her guiding the team next year. “She has such good field vision and her ability to distribute the ball complement her defensive skills,” according to Boubel.

Lorena Contreras, Chair of the AQUAS Selection Committee, noted that this young woman is focused on whatever she sets out to do. Members of the Committee were so impressed as Destiny spoke of her love of writing and her desire to help others that she feels may be downtrodden. Committee member Karen Lindsay stated that, “There is just something awesome about Destiny and the way she relates to others, and her ability to speak fluently and express her ideas is remarkable.” COL Hugh Mulligan, CEO of AQUAS, expressed his feelings: “What a pleasure it will be to work with Destiny Castro! She again reflects the values common to other AQUAS scholar athletes. It will be rewarding finding the right academic and athletic environment for Destiny where she and her family can receive financial assistance from a university while she gets her degree.”