We’re proud to offer full-tuition scholarships on a rolling basis that seek to create new paths into tech for more students. Below, meet some of the recent recipients of both our Galvanize Scholarship and our We Stand Together Scholarship.
We Stand Together Scholarship
Full-tuition scholarships for students applying to our Beginner Coding Bootcamp who identify as Black or African-American
Christian Tegene is a first-generation Ethiopian American from central Pennsylvania. He enjoys playing soccer, piano, and chess and has always been passionate about technology and mentoring others. Christian graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh and went on to attend medical school. However, after some reflection, he realized that medicine was not the right path for him and decided to pursue a career change into technology. Christian is incredibly grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow as a professional, and he is excited to embark on a new journey as a software engineering student at Hack Reactor.
Ayala Edouard is a second-generation Haitian-American from Brooklyn, New York and raised in the south. They just received their master’s in Social and Applied Philosophy from Marquette University and look forward to using their analytical thinking skills toward a career in software engineering. Edouard is the youngest of four children and has two lovely nephews. When Edouard is not planning an imaginary trip abroad, they can be found writing, curating music playlists, or practicing yoga. Edouard is honored to receive the We Stand Together scholarship, and aims to support fellow Black and queer people of all ages in their coding journey.
Jasmin Hunt is from San Antonio, Texas. As she puts it, she’s “so excited to start the program!”
In search of safety, Khalid Abdullah’s parents migrated throughout Somalia with their children. Upon immigrating to the U.S. in 2006, his family sought to find security, opportunity, and success in an entirely foreign land. During his career, Khalid graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in health sciences. He decided to take a chance and see what the world had to offer after navigating the difficult path to finding the most rewarding career. As someone with extreme creativity, a flair for fashion, and a strong sense of charisma, he knew he wanted to work with people. In order to accomplish this, he simply did what he had to do. Initially interested in medicine, he eventually decided it was not his long-term goal. In the end, Khalid decided to go into software engineering after a great deal of shadowing, research, and passion. In his quest for a new career, he hopes to be able to utilize the transferrable skills he’s acquired over the years to apply to a whole new field. To make this a reality, Khalid is proud to accept the We Stand Together Scholarship.
Wanda McCrae started her computer engineering career as a digital hardware engineer before leaving to pursue other opportunities. During that time, tech continued to interest her, and she nurtured her interest by designing and maintaining her own self-hosted websites using WordPress. She is excited to re-enter the engineering workforce on the software side after completing the Hack Reactor Beginner Coding Bootcamp. In her free time, Wanda enjoys street photography, ringing with a handbell choir, playing classical violin, and gaming. She lives in The Bronx, New York City, with her partner.
Galvanize Scholarship
Full-tuition scholarships for students applying for either our Beginner or Intermediate Coding Bootcamps who identify as belonging to one or more groups that are historically underrepresented in tech.
Diana Angarita Hormaza was born and raised in Colombia, where she completed a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business. Four years after moving to the United States, she realized that she wanted to pursue a career as a software engineer. Diana looks forward to improving her skills and leveling up her career through Hack Reactor’s coding bootcamp. She wants to empower and encourage her Hispanic community that wants to learn how to code but cannot afford formal education. When Diana is not coding, she hangs out with her husband and Arlo, her jackadoodle, and she likes to garden to grow her food.
Lauren Swersky was a classroom teacher for five years in New York and Spain where she advocated for educational equity. As a public school teacher, she saw opportunities to scale access to high-quality education through technology, which propelled her into edtech. She helped provide pedagogical expertise to products at Coursera and Waking Up, a meditation app. Lauren is excited to build her technical skill set to advance more equitable product development and serve as a role model for girls like her nieces.
Jenessa Peterson is a learning engineering consultant. After teaching high school English for more than 12 years, Jenessa supported ambitious initiatives to close the learning gap through work at Illustrative Mathematics and The Learning Agency. She also edited a book, for teachers and school administrators, on artificial intelligence in education. Jenessa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley and served as co-lead of the Sacramento chapter of Women In Data.
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Learn more about our full-tuition coding bootcamp scholarships.
