Burger King Have It Your Way Foundation Awards Hawaii Students $31,000

Thirty one Hawaii students will “have it their way” via Burger King’s education foundation this year. The foundation gave $1.4 million in scholarships to 1,258 students nationwide. Among the winners were 31 students from Hawaii, who each received $1,000 awards in recognition of their outstanding academic and community involvement achievement. The Maui students who won are Kento Tanaka-Tamaki from St. Anthony High School and Fabrienne Joy Cariaga and Jethro Casina from Maui High School.

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Created in memory of Burger King co-founder, James W. McLamore, the scholarship program has awarded a total of 15,070 scholarships, representing $15.4 million in awards since the program’s inception in 2000.

“In today’s economy, it’s too easy for dreams to be deferred,” said said Ivette Diaz, executive director of the Have It Your Way Foundation. “This year, we have enriched the program by not only giving away a record number of scholarships, but by adding three $50,000 awards and one $25,000 award.”

Eligibility requires a 3.3 minimum GPA and U.S. or Canadian citizenship. In addition, high school graduates must apply as a full-time freshman to a four-year accredited college or university located in the U.S. and achieve a minimum ACT score of 25 or 1700 on the SAT. Students throughout the United States , Puerto Rico and Canada are eligible. Recipients are selected based on their grade point average, work experience, extracurricular activities and community service.

This year’s changes attest to the Burger King Scholars Program’s growing popularity, as well as the large number of deserving students in need of financial help. The field of 31,000 applicants represents an exponential increase in the number of applications over last year, when just 3,200 students applied. For more information on applying for a scholarship in 2012, visit www.haveityourwayfoundation.org.