Rio Rancho student-athlete earns Amazon scholarship, heads to Grinnell College

Dax Martin turned a familiar Rio Rancho high school profile into a concrete college path: soccer, strong grades and leadership opened the door to an Amazon Future Engineer scholarship and a place at Grinnell College in Iowa.

Martin, a Rio Rancho High School student in the class of 2026, is listed publicly as a 6-foot-4, 175-pound defender with a 4.0 GPA and Eagle Scout status. Those details help explain why his story has drawn attention in Sandoval County, where student-athletes often balance the demands of school, sports and the next step after graduation.

On the surface, Martin fits the mold of a local teenager who likes soccer, spending time with friends and playing video games. His background, though, reaches well beyond that image. He is headed to Grinnell, where the men’s soccer program competes in NCAA Division III and the college says scholarship decisions are made holistically, based on academics, extracurriculars, leadership and special talents. Grinnell also says its scholarships can be renewed for eight semesters.

The Amazon award adds a practical layer to Martin’s next move. Amazon said it awarded 400 high school seniors with Future Engineer scholarships for 2025, totaling up to $16 million in college tuition support. The scholarship can provide up to $40,000 over four years and includes a paid internship after freshman year, along with the broader program’s emphasis on college funding, industry mentors and access to computer science or related fields.

Amazon launched the Future Engineer program in November 2019 to expand access to computer science education and help build a more diverse tech workforce. Scholarship America and College Board both note the paid internship component, making the award more than a line on a résumé. For Martin, it ties together tuition support, job experience and a summer internship before his college career is even fully underway.

For Rio Rancho High School and Rio Rancho Public Schools, Martin’s path is the kind of result that shows up in simple but measurable terms: a roster spot, a scholarship and a paid internship attached to the same opportunity. In a community that tracks student outcomes closely, Martin’s next chapter is already set to begin in Grinnell, Iowa, with soccer and college preparation moving forward together.