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The Grant Imahara

FAST Scholarship

FAST is excited to announce the second annual Grant Imahara FAST Scholarship! This scholarship recognizes exceptional FAST students who are creative problem solvers and who have a passion for discovery. In partnership with the Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation, we will award scholarship recipients a total of $10,000 dispersed over the first two years of their college education. Our goal is for this scholarship to support FAST students as they continue their education and become the next generation of innovators and leaders across STEAM disciplines.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the scholarship, you must:

Have completed or commit to completing at least one year of FAST
Demonstrate financial need
Graduate High School in Spring 2024 and enroll at a 4-year college or university in Fall 2024
Submit the application by March 4th, 2024 (11:59pm PST)

Additional Applicant Info

Evaluations of applicants will heavily weigh financial need, but will also focus on students’ demonstrated curiosity and passion towards open questions and problems across STEAM fields. No minimum GPA is required for this application, and we will not consider grades/academic performance when evaluating applications. The award is also not contingent on which college or university a student decides to enroll in, as long as it is a 4-year institution.

Application Components

To apply for this Scholarship, please submit the following components by March 4th, 2024 (by 11:59pm PST). Instructions on requesting and submitting letters of recommendation are included below.

Grant Imahara FAST Scholarship Application 2024
One Letter of recommendation from a current or previous FAST mentor
[Optional] A second letter of recommendation from someone who can speak to your strengths, passions, and/or potential

Applicants will be notified whether or not they have received this scholarship in early April, prior to the April 15th deadline for college decisions.

Please contact us at gifs@fastprogram.org or reach out to Anudeep Mangu (on Remind for James Lick students), or Caroline Scheuing (on Remind for Andrew Hill students) if you have any questions about the scholarship or application process!

Letters of Recommendation

We ask that you submit the names and emails of up to 2 people/teams to recommend you for this scholarship. These recommendations should speak to your passion, creativity, problem solving ability, and curiosity. In order to invite your recommenders to submit a letter, direct them to this webpage, and the Instructions for Recommenders section below. YOU are responsible for directing your recommenders to the submission form below and ensuring that they know the application deadline. Be sure to invite your recommenders early so that they have sufficient time to write you a good letter. You will also be asked to provide the names and contact emails of your recommenders in the scholarship application above.

*One letter of recommendation from one of your FAST mentors is required. You can ask any mentor you’ve worked with during your time in FAST to be your recommender. If you were co-mentored during one year of FAST, you can ask the two mentors as a team.

[Optional] You have the option of including a letter of recommendation from another person. This person can be another FAST mentor, a teacher, or another person that can speak on your behalf.

Instructions for Applicants

Please write a 1-2 page recommendation letter about your experience working with the student applying for the Grant Imahara FAST Scholarship in the form below. Please submit your letter by March 4th, 2023 (11:59pm PT).

Letter of Recommendation Submission Form

We are looking for students who are passionate, creative, curious, and can think critically.

Consider some of the following questions when writing your letter:

How did they demonstrate their enthusiasm?
What are they passionate about, and were they successful in getting others excited about it?
How did they make a positive impact on you and/or the FAST program as a whole?
What did they learn from their experience in FAST or while working with you? How did they grow?

If there are additional factors that you think demonstrate the applicant’s drive or resilience, or if you can speak to the impact that this scholarship would have on the student’s pursuit of higher education, please include that information as well in your letter.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of questions. These questions are meant to be a guide when writing your recommendation letter. There is no need to exhaustively answer every question above.

Thank you for being such a great mentor and for writing a letter on the student’s behalf!

Instructions for Recommenders

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