Claire Chi, Policymaker and Scholarship Winner

Paying It Forward

The daughter of an immigrant coming from 26 generations of dedicated fishermen, Claire Chi knows well the value of hard work. Today, she’s pouring her effort into improving public policy as a student at Stanford University, having been awarded $450,000 in merit scholarships with the help of Scholarships.com.

"I just love how [applicable scholarships] came right to my inbox,” said Chi. “Usually, if you look up scholarships for high school students, you're only getting the top 10 most competitive ones in the US."

For the majority of her childhood, Chi lived in a low-income area of Mississippi; the state ranked 50th nationally in educational achievement.

“It’s also not fantastic by any other measures,” she added, referring to the high childhood poverty rates and lack of accessible, high-quality healthcare. After 8 years there, the Chi family relocated to State College, Pennsylvania.

When they moved, though, Chi says that “those issues didn’t necessarily go away.” Many of the problems that plagued her Mississippi home still existed in Pennsylvania: food insecurity and educational inequality aren’t confined by state lines.

“So when I was 16,” Chi continued, “I became involved in government service.” For two years, she served as one of two student representatives to the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, a high honor. But she discovered quickly that sitting in on board meetings was not enough to gain a true grasp of such topics. That’s when Chi decided to expand her advisory council to advance student voice in policymaking.

"I really do appreciate Scholarships.com for helping to identify which ones were the best fit for me, and which would be worth my time.”

“It’s grown to over 85 schools that are being represented in this advisory council, but that’s all high school,” she said. “I wanted to reach the K-8 part of the K-12 students I represented, but… it’s hard for [younger students to] advocate for themselves. So instead of them coming to me, I went to them.”

Chi traveled to schools all across Pennsylvania, especially to those in rural, low-income areas. She spoke to students, teachers, and administrators to craft policy changes that would address real concerns, such as a universal free breakfast program that served over 90 million breakfasts to students in the past year alone.

All the while, Chi was busy with her own academics. Her career path was obvious— public policy— but she knew financing it would be difficult. She started looking for scholarships as a high school freshman to ensure she wouldn’t miss out on any opportunities, optimizing her search with Scholarships.com.

“I just love how [applicable scholarships] came right to my inbox,” said Chi. “Usually, if you look up scholarships for high school students, you're only getting the top 10 most competitive ones in the US… so I really do appreciate Scholarships.com for helping to identify which ones were the best fit for me, and which would be worth my time.”

By the end of her high school senior year, Chi had not only made tangible policy changes like the statewide free breakfast program to improve the lives of students, but also utilized Scholarships.com to earn enough scholarship money to enroll at Stanford University.

Through a combination of small local scholarships like the Dr. Nhi Thai Scholarship and large, competitive scholarships like the Coca-Cola Scholars Program, she now has access to countless networking resources to propel her forward in her political science career— and she’s even taken the initiative on a scholarship project of her own, too.

“I launched my own scholarship called the Chi Changemaker Scholarship,” Chi said. “It provides not only financial support for a young person to go to college, but also a year-long mentorship program— one-on-one with me— to continue growing their social impact and to develop their leadership experience.”

The Chi Changemaker Scholarship, named to honor the remarkable story of Chi’s father and his experience as an immigrant-turned-professor, is open to any high school student or graduate between the ages of 14-18; interested students can apply online at Scholarships.com.

Funded with money from her own pocket, Chi couldn’t be prouder to offer this opportunity to determined students like herself.

Her advice to other students? Chi says, “Identify what makes you light up. The things that make you really excited are worth pursuing.”

Sign up to receive your own personalized scholarship matches today, sent directly to your email inbox every week; keep up with Claire Chi through her nonprofit Dancing Against Hunger online at dancingagainsthunger.org.