They epitomize the phrase ‘student-athlete’.

From the 50 thousand high school seniors that play a sport in Florida come the 24 distinguished enough to be selected to the FHSAA Florida Dairy Farmers Academic All-State Team.

“You can look at where they anticipate going and know they’re going to be outstanding leaders not only for our community, for our state but for our entire country,” FHSAA executive director George Tomyn said.

That group was honored Monday night at an awards banquet in Gainesville.

It’s the 23rd year of a program that rewards achievement in athletics, academics and community service.

“It’s really amazing that I have become a part of such a prestigious group of kids,” said Alex Quinones, a recent graduate of Bradenton Southeast.

All of the award winners receive a $1,700 scholarship.

Seven of Monday’s honorees come from the Bay Area or Central Florida.

Winter Park’s Madelyn Bell excelled in swimming and lacrosse and made a commitment to play lacrosse at the Naval Academy after her sophomore year.

“It’s an opportunity to serve. It’s something I didn’t know that I was in but once I learned more about it, it calls you,” she said.

Bell hopes to become a pilot on her way to something out of this world.

“I dream of being an astronaut,” she said. “I’ve researched it and a lot of them are pilots. I wanted to set myself up with a route to get there.”

Here are the seven locals selected to the FHSAA Academic All-State team:

Madelyn Bell, Winter Park

Luke Bryan, Port Orange Spruce Creek

Kristi Byun, Largo Indian Rocks Christian

Natalie Chapman, St. Petersburg Northside Christian

Alex Quinones, Bradenton Southeast

Ryan Savoldy, Hudson Fivay

Alexandra Thomasson, Lecanto