Watch: Brooklyn High-School Senior Surprised With Full Ride to Harvard

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Ethan Ambrose, a 17-year-old senior at Medgar Evers College Prep School in Crown Heights, is headed to Harvard University next fall.

And he's going for free.

The high-achieving senior was one of 5,000 students across the country who applied for a scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation this year, and one of only 85 who received an award.

In a video posted to YouTube (and included above), the foundation's executive director, Harold O. Levy, surprises Ambrose with the award in front of family, friends and classmates at Medgar Evers.

"I feel like I am indebted to everyone who is sitting before me today," Ambrose says in the reaction video, clearly emotional.

In an interview with Brooklyn Paper, Ambrose said he plans to study neurobiology once he gets to Harvard.

More on the scholarship — and one exceptional recipient in Crown Heights — can be found at Brooklyn Paper and on the foundation's website.