Caylin Moore got an email from his mom in early July reminding him to apply for a scholarship. But, this wasn’t just any scholarship.

The Rhodes Scholarship is one of the “oldest and most prestigious scholarships in the world,” Chancellor Victor Boschini wrote in an email.

Each year, 32 students are chosen from the United States to be a Rhodes Scholar.

This year, Moore is representing TCU as a finalist.

Moore, a safety on the TCU football team, said he knew he wanted to be a Rhodes Scholar since 2008 when he saw Myron Rolle, a safety at Florida State University, receive the award. Moore said seeing Rolle gave him the inspiration and drive he needed. He added this to his “dream board,” a place where he puts his goals and aspirations for the future.

“After that day, I had a picture of Myron and a piece of paper that said ‘Rhodes Scholarship’ on my board,” Moore said.

To Moore, the prestige and title don’t carry an effect, but rather it is what he can do with becoming a Rhodes Scholar that is his driving factor.

“This will enable me the opportunity to be the agent of change that I have always been striving to be,” Moore said.

Moore said America needs to invest in education, especially with children, because they are the future. And Moore has given his time back to educating kids. He founded the organization S.P.A.R.K., which goes into the community and speaks to young children about striving for excellence.

“When you get more people doing that you get to see the butterfly effect it has,” Moore said.

Moore said that with S.P.A.R.K. he has realized he wants to pursue his masters in business administration and eventually turn S.P.A.R.K. into a large non-profit organization.

Moore has his finalist interview on Nov. 19.