Our We Stand Together Scholarship provides an opportunity for students to attend our part-time or full-time immersive programs, and we are excited to announce the latest recipients!
This is made possible by a $1.8m “Opportunity Fund” to fund full, partial, and deposit-level scholarships for students who identify as Black or African-American to our full-time and part-time immersive programs in Software Engineering. According to Pew Research Center, Black workers continue to be underrepresented in the STEM workforce, making up 11% of the U.S. workforce overall but only representing 9% of STEM workers.
The We Stand Together Scholarship provides up to five full-tuition scholarships for the Hack Reactor Software Engineering Immersive bootcamps through Galvanize and we plan to give out additional scholarships for future cohorts. The recipients announced today will be targeting the software engineering bootcamp in September.
Learn more about them below!
Michael Fugrad-Hill
Born and raised in Southern California, Mike began developing a love for technology at a young age. Excited to venture outside of his hometown, he moved to San Francisco where he pursued his B.S. in mechanical engineering. After graduating he landed a job with an ocean technology startup as a production engineer. It was there that he experienced using code in real-world applications for the first time. Since then his love for coding has grown from a fun hobby to a passion. He is looking forward to sharpening his skills and diving deeper into software engineering through Hack Reactor’s coding bootcamp.
Taylor Furtick
Taylor is overjoyed to accept the We Stand Together Scholarship. He trained to be a concert pianist at the Interlochen Arts Academy, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Syracuse University, but in his role as a teacher, he has found enjoyment in working with students and building their capacity to engage deeply with the repertoire. While performing and teaching will always be part of his life, Taylor is also driven by a passion for social justice and has become active in harm reduction work, seeking to understand the intersectional damages of race, poverty, and drug policy. Knowing the power of technology in our daily lives, Taylor hopes to develop skills in programming to build projects that connect and empower marginalized populations with the goal of affecting policy and working toward wider systems change.
Ashley Wilburn
Originally from Pennsylvania, Ashley grew up playing sports. As she grew older, she focused her time and energy into studying and playing basketball, leading her to secure a basketball scholarship to Philadelphia University. Graduating with a degree in Management, she soon began to feel unfulfilled in her line of work. As a military spouse, her husband suggested changing careers to education. When the pandemic hit, she began a blog. She was blown away by the excitement she found problem-solving and writing code to make her website functional. Her experience confirmed her interest in technology and coding. She is so grateful for this scholarship and opportunity to study with Hack Reactor. From Texas, to Guam, to now Hawaii you can expect to find her at the beach with her husband and 3 children, SUP boarding, hiking, or developing interesting content to add to her blog.
Antwan Gadsden
Antwan Gadsden is a Charleston, South Carolina native. He currently works as full-Time Physical Therapist Assistant. He is a dedicated, committed, and hardworking father. He is excited and optimistic about his future in the tech industry. He believes with practice, patience and teamwork there is nothing that he can not accomplish.
Prince Addai
Prince Addai was raised in Ghana. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Biology. After a brief stint in cancer research after college, Prince pursued a career in Production Line management at L’Oreal. A quick learner and a versatile worker, Prince has experience from working for a vast range of employers ranging from the Environmental Protection Agency all the way to the US Army. Prince seeks to embody the diversity and inclusion this scholarship stands for; after completion of the Galvanize bootcamp, he plans on setting up a tutoring program that’ll teach in-demand technical skills to prison inmates.
More Galvanize Scholarship Opportunities
Want to learn more about Galvanize’s full-tuition scholarships? Galvanize offers the We Stand Together Scholarship and the Galvanize Scholarship for the Hack Reactor software engineering Immersive, offering rolling dates for each scholarship, which can be found on our scholarship website.
Please reach out to us at scholarships@galvanize.com if you have any questions or want to learn more!
