Montwood Student Shocked After Amazon Delivers $40K Scholarship

It was the best Amazon package one local El Paso high school student has ever opened.

Gael Sustaita, a student at Montwood High School in the Socorro Independent School District, got to open the box in front of a group of his friends.

Inside was a certificate indicating he had been awarded the Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship.

What does that entail?

Oh you know, just a $40,000 scholarship to study computer science or engineering at a university of his choosing ... AND ... a PAID internship at Amazon after his freshman year of college.

Not too shabby.

According to Amazon, Gael was "one of 400 high school seniors from underserved communities across the country who will receive the scholarship."

Amazon says there were thousands of applicants and among the 400 winners:

• 52 students from Texas
• More than 70% of scholarship recipients identify as Black, Latinx, and Native American
• 50% identify as a woman or nonbinary

Amazon is awarding $16 million in scholarships to computer science students in the United States through this program.

So, how did Gael win such an incredible honor? Here are the criteria that Amazon says it selects its winners: "academic achievement, demonstrated leadership, participation in school and community activities, work experience, future goals and financial need."

Amazon provided a video of the surprise and Gael was SHOCKED. You can check it out below.

At first, he's speechless, but when he collects himself he jokes, "Is this the part where I say thank you Amazon?"

Everyone gets a good chuckle out of that before Gael does in fact thank Amazon not only for the scholarship but the paid internship.

Congratulations to Gael!