ISCHOLAR
IRINA CHUKHRAY
IScholar was founded in 2014 by Irina Chukhray, a PhD candidate at University of California, Davis.
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Born in Ukraine, Irina is the first in her family to go to college. IScholar was born from her passion to give back to her community. Throughout her academic career, Irina continues to be funded by a combination of university scholarships and stipends. Without such financial support, she would not have been able to attend college.
STORY BEHIND ISCHOLAR
IRINA'S DETERMINATION TO GIVE BACK
After graduating from Patrick Henry High School (PHHS), Irina set her mind to one day give back to the school and especially the teachers who motivated and encouraged her to pursue her academic goals. She is determined to help PHHS seniors currently mentored by the same teachers that mentored her.
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IRINA'S STRUGGLE WITH PAYING FOR COLLEGE
Irina designed IScholar with the intention of creating a scholarship that is useful to its applicants. Although Irina's own college pursuits were fully funded by scholarships and grants, the funds were usually available a few weeks after the start of the semester. This meant that she was "in the hole" for college costs as an undergraduate student at San Diego State University. The beginning of each semester was a big financial challenge as Irina and her parents (immigrants from Ukraine), lived paycheck to paycheck. Buying required textbooks and lab materials at the start of each semester (adding up to hundreds of dollars) was a significant financial hardship while waiting several weeks for scholarships and grants to become available.
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IRINA FOUNDED ISCHOLAR
From this personal struggle, Irina created IScholar, a scholarship that awards winners several weeks before the start of the freshman semester to help reduce gaps in accessing college materials. The first IScholar winner was announced Spring 2015. Irina funds most of the small scholarship awards with her personal funds.
ISCHOLAR FUTURE
IScholar is small but we hope to grow, to help reduce socioeconomic gaps in accessing college, with your help.
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Irina set a longterm goal for IScholar to raise $83,080, which is the estimated 4-year cost of fees, room/board, and tuition (source: CollegeBoard). Currently, IScholar is a small scholarship that is working on growth. Our first goal is to raise $1,000. Whether you can give $100, $50, or $25, everything helps.