The latest Scholar Athlete of the Week is keeping her eye on the ball and toward a future of success. NY1's Anthony Pascale filed the following report.

To Jacqueline Natividad, handball was just a sport kids played on the playground. But during her sophomore year at the High School for Environmental Studies, Natividad became a founding member of the school's team.

"I always saw it as, like, just a game for fun, but I didn't know walking into high school it was an actual league. And it's been such a great experience to be part of it," Natividad says.

Natividad had no experience with the sport, and neither did any of her teammates. But as captain, she led them to the playoffs for the first time this year.

"Jackie challenges herself everyday to get better, and she takes the kids around her and makes them better as well with her dedication," says Laurie Morris, Natividad's handball coach. "She's the first person to give compliments and the first person to ask if you're OK when you get hurt."

Natividad has that same caring attitude in the classroom. The honors student excels in physics and makes it a point to help struggling classmates.

"A lot of the kids look at the class as a competition, but to her, it's not. She feels like she has an obligation to share her knowledge about complex physics problems with kids who actually need a lot of help," says Edgar Miranda, Natividad's physics teacher.

Natividad says she didn't always feel this confident. She says it's because of handball and her time on the cross country team that she was able to break out of her shell.

"Sports has definitely helped me mentally and physically and socially," she says. "Now, I am more outgoing. Throughout the years, everything just came really quick, and I can't believe I have grown to be a better person."

On top of the time spent on the court and in the classroom, Natividad fits volunteering at a day care into her schedule, too. She's also busy with her school's photography club, a hobby she plans to turn into a career.

"I really just like capturing the moments that we don't really get to focus on when we are living in the moment," she says. "I feel like it's important that people look back on all that they've accomplished."

So, for "capturing" enough courage to achieve her dreams, Jacqueline Natividad is the latest Ford Lincoln of Queens/NY1 Scholar Athlete of the Week.