"My first travel soccer tryout, I wore jean shorts," said David Garvin, NY1's Scholar Athlete of the Week. "But the coach liked me, so I still made the team."

David has come a long way since that first tryout at six years old. He's now a star striker on the Curtis High School soccer team.

"My freshman year was a bad year, and sophomore year I kind of found the back of the net," he said. "I put in so much work the summer going into my junior year. It translated really well."

It certainly did: David topped the PSAL leaderboard his junior year as the highest goal-scorer in the city. As a senior, he was named captain of the team, and for the first time in more than two decades, he led the Warriors to the city championships.

But David is quick to point out he can't take all the credit.

"I know a lot of sports you can have one or two really good players and they can carry the team, but with soccer you just need the whole team to be involved and on the same page," he said.

David leads both on the field and in the classroom, but also in his community. Not only does he hold a near-perfect GPA and serves as student body president, he founded the "Feet First," a nonprofit that donates cleats and shoes to children in Turks and Caicos, an area still reeling from the devastation caused by hurricanes in 2017.

"It just wiped them out," David said. "You just really want to help someone in that kind of event."

With the help of his classmates and community, David has donated more than 300 pairs of shoes to the effort.

"I wish I was able to do half of the things David is involved in right now," Curtis High School English Teacher Sean Cogan said. "Being president of the school's study body, being an honors student, soccer team captain. I don't know how he has time to do it."

The secret to his success? David says he owes much of it to soccer. 

"I think with academics I realized if you study, you get good results. Same thing if you practice, you get better," David said. "So I think realizing that correlation with soccer and seeing how you can apply it to school."

David heads to Skidmore College in the fall where he plans to continue with the sport he loves, enjoying the game he says has guided him through life.

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The Spectrum News NY1 Scholar Athlete Program recognizes exceptional public high school student athletes with academic scholarship awards of $1,000 each for use towards college expenses. Nominees must be high school seniors enrolled at public high schools within the five boroughs of New York City in order to be considered.

If you are a public school coach, teacher, administrator or school counselor who would like to nominate a student athlete who excels both in the classroom and on the court, click here to fill out a nomination form.