January 22, 2025
Students From Eustis and South Lake High Named Sunshine State Scholars
By Kyle Coppola
Students From Eustis and South Lake High Named Sunshine State Scholars
Pumipat Ratanawetchasit from Eustis High School and Aubrey Shaw from South Lake High School have been chosen to represent Lake County Schools in the Sunshine State Scholars Program in Orlando on April 10-11. The two-day program culminates with the Commissioner of Education honoring them for their significant accomplishments.
Each Florida school district selects its top 11th-grade students in the areas of science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) to participate in the program, which connects scholars with schools from Florida’s College and State University System. The program includes workshops on college applications, informational sessions on college funding, and discussions about higher education opportunities available in Florida.
Sunshine State Scholars must have expressed an interest in STEM-related studies, maintain a weighted grade point average of 3.9 or higher, and be on track to qualify for the Florida Academic Scholars Award. Additionally, they must provide documentation of at least 25 hours of approved community service.
Districts are allotted scholar spots based on student enrollment. Districts with fewer than 20,000 students are allotted one scholar; districts with 20,001 to 78,999 students are allotted two scholars; and districts with more than 79,000 students are allotted three scholars.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
