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A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph..
Overcast. Low 74F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: May 22, 2025 @ 3:25 am
Founders of the Heartland Scholarship, from left, Gerardo Arceo and Miguel Arceo, present three Sebring High School students, Ashley Dean, Matthew Suarez and Emily Mendoza, scholarships on April 30 at the school. They each received $5,000.
Gerardo Arceo, left, Trinidad Arceo and Miguel Arceo attend the 2025 The Heartland Scholarship fundraiser on April 10 at Don Jose Mexican Restaurant in Sebring.
Founders of the Heartland Scholarship, from left, Gerardo Arceo and Miguel Arceo, present three Sebring High School students, Ashley Dean, Matthew Suarez and Emily Mendoza, scholarships on April 30 at the school. They each received $5,000.
Gerardo Arceo, left, Trinidad Arceo and Miguel Arceo attend the 2025 The Heartland Scholarship fundraiser on April 10 at Don Jose Mexican Restaurant in Sebring.
The Heartland Scholarship was founded by Miguel Arceo when he was a junior at Sebring High School in 2021. He graduated in 2022 and is now a junior studying political science at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
Since then, his cousin, Gerardo Arceo, currently holds the torch as director of the non-profit organization and carried on the initiative to help graduating senior students to pursue college. For the past five years, they have hosted a scholarship night at Don Jose Mexican Restaurant, their family restaurant in Sebring, where sponsors and donors raise funds.
“We felt like we had the opportunity to give back,” Miguel said. “We were in a good enough position financially to help those that may not be in that same position and just talking to people and local business leaders and getting their ideas to put this organization together.”
In their first year, their original goal was to fundraise $2,500, but they ended up raising $10,000 and were able to donate three scholarships. This year’s scholarship night on April 10, they were able to raise $15,000 and they gave out three $5,000 scholarships.
This year, the recipients from Sebring High School were Ashley Dean, Matthew Suarez, and Emily Mendoza. Scholarships were presented to the students on April 30 at the school.
Miguel said that the initiative is able to take the leftover money and use it toward buying coffee and doughnuts for teacher appreciation week and sponsoring little league teams. Currently, the program exists at Sebring High School, but they’ve discussed potentially adding more scholarships to the other two county high schools.
“It means you really just see how much it helps, like sometimes people think of five grand. But five grand can make or break some people’s ability to go to a university,” Gerardo said.
Becoming a director has been a “learning opportunity” for Gerardo, being able to grow many relationships with community leaders such as Sebring Mayor John Shoop.
Miguel commented that the first-year recipients of the scholarships just graduated college, and brought up an example, Cheyenne Middleton.
“She graduated and it really helped her because the scholarship helped her to not have to worry about getting a job because she could help pay for living expenses and focus on internships and stuff like that,” Miguel said. “So, I think it’s just continuing to expand the amount of people we help each and every year and kind of help them see their education.”
Gerardo was friends with some of the graduating seniors who received the scholarship, and attested to the scholarship enabling them to expand their education such as applying for medical school.
Every year, they compile applications from Sebring High School students that includes their personal information, grade point average, and scores from the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) or American College Test (ACT). They review how many advanced courses the applicant has taken such as if they’re in International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced Placement (AP) or dual enrollment classes.
This is sent over to a board of community members, that reviews the applications and chooses the applicants. The board ensures the process is fair, with the applicant’s name redacted in the applications.
Anyone wishing to find out more information about Heartland Scholarship, can call 863-991-3385, email arceomiguel03@gmail.com or send information to Heartland Scholarship at 4731 Lakeview Dr., Sebring, FL 33870.
“We recognize it’s really expensive nowadays and unfortunately with the rising cost of tuition, cost of living,” Miguel said. “It’s just going up every single year. We just wanted to give back, you know, this community has really given us a lot and really helped our family thrive here in Highlands County. I want to be able to give back to the community that’s really given us so much.”
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