When Wareham eighth-grader Kyran Pina learned he was one of the top 65 young scholars out of 35,000 Pop Warner student-athletes, he was very excited.

“It makes me feel proud, and want to work harder to be the best,” Pina said.

Pop Warner’s Little Scholars program is a non-profit organization that provides football and cheerleading programs for qualifying young people around the world. In order to participate in Pop Warner, students must maintain a grade point average of at least 2.0, or 70 percent.

Myron Pina, Kyran’s father, said his son, who plays football, has a grade point average of 97 percent. He said his son was just shy of qualifying for the Top Team All-American, which is comprised of the top 35 students in the program.

“It was a little discouraging to find out that, if Kyran had participated in other activities, he would have made it,” Myron said. “The first team qualified for some very prominent scholarships.”

Despite this, Pina said he is very proud of his son. Pina said he has known since Kyran was a little boy that he was going to do well.

“He has been wanting to go to Tabor Academy since he was four,” Pina said. “He has aspirations to go to an Ivy League school, and study law.”

Pina also said that some of his son’s success is because of Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood and the Wareham public school system.

“It’s a partnership,” Pina said. “Have faith in the superintendent, have faith in the public school system.”

Kyran, who will be attending Tabor Academy, is enrolled in Wareham’s dual-enrollment program, and takes some of his major classes at the high school. He said he enjoys working hard, because he wants to be successful in the future.

“If I want to be successful, I have to be intelligent, and I need degrees,” Pina said.

But Pina said he could not have done it without his father.

“My dad helps me with a lot of stuff, and he is a big part of what I do,” Pina said. “He is my biggest fan.”