and Jaclyn Steinberg, students at Valencia Community College.

Steven Crist came to Valencia looking for a second chance at a college education.

He got it, and much more.

Crist, the college’s 2011 Distinguished Graduate, has been selected to receive the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship for up to $30,000 a year for three years.

The highly competitive scholarship is awarded to the nation’s top community college students who have financial need. It is intended to cover a significant share of educational expenses for the final two to three years necessary to achieve a bachelor’s degree – including tuition, living expenses, books and required fees.

Crist is one of 60 scholars selected this year to receive the award, out of a pool of hundreds of applicants from 17 different states.

Another Valencia graduate,Mikhail Elliott, who is studying economics at the University of Tampa, won the award last year.

Crist delivered the commencement address at Valencia’s graduation on May 7, where he received his Associate in Arts degree. He is still weighing his options about where to transfer. He plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and after that, law school. He wants to help the disadvantaged.

Those who know the 27-year-old Midwest native marvel at his energy, organizational skills and goal-setting prowess.

He will readily tell you he was not always in such control of his life.

Ten years ago, Crist was in high school in Ohio and feeling aimless. On his 18th birthday, he dropped out and began a nearly year-long journey of self-discovery that included stints of homelessness.

Seeing no future on