By Mia Drake

From a pool of over 6,000 applicants, one very hard-working El Dorado student was presented with a $10,000 scholarship from Nordstrom on Friday morning in a surprise celebration.
Excitement and anxiety was evident on the faces of Jordan Lopez’s parents as they, along with district staff, school administration, Nordstrom Scholarship representatives, local media and science teacher Jesus Tapia, waited silently to surprise Lopez with the scholarship announcement.

Lopez had no idea he had been chosen out of only 80 students nationwide to receive the Nordstrom Scholarship.

“I’m so excited for him and happy, he’s such a hard worker,” said Miguel Lopez, Jordan’s father. “He really deserves this. Our values are faith, family, academics, and then sports.”

According to Jordan, the values that his parents taught him have had a big impact on his life.
Jordan is an IB student, captain of the varsity soccer team, and kicker for the varsity football team.
“Since sophomore year he’s been a good student,” said Tapia, who arranged the big surprise for Jordan. “He’s a bright kid. He’s very responsible, he knows what he wants, he’s determined, so he deserves this big time.”

For a more in-depth version of this story, please look for the updated version on Monday.
Ariana Contreras contributed to this report. Photo by Daniel Perez.