Carlos Alas, 20, of Naples, Fla., is majoring in mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, and is one of 12 winners of an 'Obama' Teaching Scholarship from the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

When President Obama won the Nobel Prize in late 2009, he donated his $1.4 million winnings to 10 different charities. Frank Alvarez, CEO of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, knew just what to do with the $125,000 his organization got. The fund decided to divide the money into 24 $5,000 scholarships for Hispanic students studying STEM-related fields. Award winners would also have shown an interest in giving back to the community and becoming STEM teachers. 

Alvarez says that by spreading the president's funds out over two years, the organization has had time to establish partners to continue the scholarship in the future. He says the Hispanic Scholarship Fund hopes to continue the scholarship in the future with funds from Teach for America.