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For Daniel Santana, basketball is always on the brain.
“If he had his choice, any essay he [wrote], if he could twist it in a way, he would make it about basketball,” said Susan Wood, a virtual campus mentor in Allentown School District and Santana’s former teacher.
Santana, 17, is a senior in the district’s Virtual Academy, and he spent his high school career playing on Allen High School’s basketball team. An honor roll student, Santana amassed nearly $1.5 million in academic scholarships from 30 colleges and universities, including the University of Kansas, Temple University and the University of Rhode Island.
But with hopes of playing college basketball, Santana will delay his collegiate experience by doing a post-graduate year at the Phelps School in Chester County.
Santana will take a light course load at the preparatory school and play on the basketball team to gain exposure and attention from college coaches and find a team to call home. This means he will have to go through the college application process once more, but ideally this time he’ll have an athletic scholarship offer, too.
“When he said that he wanted to go to college and play basketball, he meant it,” Wood said. “He definitely has a passion for basketball. He loves the sport.”
As for Santana’s scholarship money, Wood said it’s not common for students to earn such a large collective sum.
“It’s certainly not a number that we are constantly hearing,” she said. “It’s crazy, it’s amazing.”
Santana credits his mother Evelyn for helping him through the college application process.
“The most important thing with having your pick is going to be grades,” said Evelyn Santana, a former ASD school director and the chief diversity officer and executive director of partnership sites at Harcum College. “Once a student has a high GPA, everything else just sort of falls into place because they’re going to look at how well you did in high school and what classes you took.”
Daniel Santana said he made many memories during his high school career, like going to watch a Lehigh University basketball game two years ago, the first collegiate game he saw in person.
“I also made a lot of friends,” he said. “There were ups and downs, but I think it was pretty fun.”
Darnell Braswell, Allen’s head coach, said Santana has steadily grown in his athletic skills throughout high school, too.
“He really committed himself to becoming one of the stronger kids on our team,” Braswell said. “He became more coordinated, he’s been able to finish, he’s become a better shooter, a better defender.”
Santana plans to study exercise science and sports management in college, but hopes to play professional basketball one day. His favorite NBA team is the Milwaukee Bucks and he draws inspiration from the team’s power forward, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“I like that he plays hard all the time and he works very hard,” Santana said. “I try to be like him in that way.”
Daniel Santana, an Allen High School student, practices basketball Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at the In The Zone sports facility in Bath. Santana has been awarded multiple college scholarships.(Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Daniel Santana, an Allen High School student, practices basketball Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at the In The Zone sports facility in Bath. Santana has been awarded multiple college scholarships.(Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Allen High School student Daniel Santana, works on his basketball skills Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at the In The Zone sports facility Bath. Santana has been awarded multiple college scholarships.(Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Daniel Santana, an Allen High School student, practices basketball Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at the In The Zone sports facility in Bath. Santana has been awarded multiple college scholarships.(Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Daniel Santana, an Allen High School student, practices basketball Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at the In The Zone sports facility in Bath. Santana has been awarded multiple college scholarships.(Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Daniel Santana, an Allen High School student, practices basketball Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at the In The Zone sports facility in Bath. Santana has been awarded multiple college scholarships.(Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
Allen High School student Daniel Santana, works on his basketball skills Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at the In The Zone sports facility Bath. Santana has been awarded multiple college scholarships.(Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)
In addition to Allen’s team, Santana plays for the boys In The Zone varsity AAU team, which travels to play in regional tournaments.
“He brings a lot of energy and he doesn’t quit,” head coach Fred Piazza said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re winning or losing, he plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
Santana also trains with Sammy Barona, who played basketball professionally in France and the Dominican Republic. Barona played with athletes who would go on to the NBA, such as Stephen Jackson, who played for eight teams in a 17-year career.
Barona said Santana’s strengths as a player lie in his shooting ability, physicality and efficiency. He’s helping Santana hone the skills necessary to transition from a shooting guard to a point guard, focusing on ball handling, footwork and speed.
“Daniel is just the type of student athlete that any college program would want,” Barona said. “He’s very academic, and then when it comes to the game, he has a lot of passion. Every day he has the work ethic to want to get better.”
“And those are the ingredients that you would want in a player,” he added.
The Morning Call strives to highlight the accomplishments and diversity of students in Lehigh Valley schools. Email us at news@mcall.com.
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