Two concussions, the loss of a sport he loves, and a $46,530 ROTC scholarship.

Senior Anthony Del Rosario’s time in high school has been filled with highs and lows, it all started when he had to give up football, a sport he had played for seven years of his life.

His concussions made it too risky to continue playing. One concussion was from a game he played in eighth grade when he was kneed in the head. The other was from a skateboard incident during his freshman year; his board got stuck in a crack in the road, and because of the momentum, he fell off.

Instead of giving up on a student-athlete career, he pursued running and joined cross country and track during his junior and senior years.

“I knew I was a decent runner and always have wanted to try it,” Del Rosario said. “I wanted to stay active and I really like sports.”

Del Rosario was determined to be one of the fastest boys on the team, but coming into the sport late, he knew he had to put in some extra work.

“I am not built to run [like that],” Del Rosario said. “[When I started], I had never run competitively while the others had run for two years previously.”

Now, one of the top five fastest boys on both the cross country and track teams, he runs a 5K in under 18 minutes and a mile in under 5.

“I never saw myself being a runner, let alone being somewhat good at it,” Del Rosario said.

After high school, he looks to attend the Florida State University majoring in finance, with plans of joining the Army after.

He has been part of ROTC for three years and has just received a scholarship from the Army ROTC.

To get the scholarship, Del Rosario had to submit his transcript, write an essay on his time management skills and why he would be a deserving candidate for the scholarship, and also submit his physical assessment results. For the physical assessment he had to do a minute of push-ups, he did 64, sit-ups, he did 50, and one mile, he ran 5:08.

From there, his information was sent to the national board where he was placed against other cadet applicants from all over the nation. He received the check for his scholarship at the senior awards night on Monday, April 30.

The scholarship comes with an eight year service commitment, but, he would like to serve for about 10 to 15 years as a Special Forces or Intelligence Officer.

“The more that I thought about it, and the more I got into ROTC, I figured that I could really do something in the military,” Del Rosario said.

Overall, for Del Rosario, his time in high school has been filled with a lot of change and now he can look toward a new chapter of his life.

“I have changed a lot, going from a football player throughout my youth to becoming a successful runner and hoping to make a career though the U.S. Army after ROTC at FSU,” Del Rosario said. “I’m kind of nervous that I am growing up, but I am definitely ready to move on to my next endeavor.”