Inaugural Fannan Fellowship Awards $80,000 in Scholarships at South Tahoe High School
South Lake Tahoe, CA - The Marcella Foundation is proud to announce the winners of the inaugural Fannan Fellowship. Named in honor of Marcella Foundation Founder, Sean Fannan, the fellowship offers scholarships to top ranking students seeking to become creative problem solvers in any field of study.
Sean Fannan, a graduate of South Tahoe High School class of 2002, went on to study at UC Santa Barbara. He spent the past 10+ years in the mobile games industry, working on everything from the #1 game on the iPhone at the time, Tap Tap Revenge, to starting one of the biggest mobile advertising businesses in the world.
The top 30 ranking students in the class of 2023 were invited to apply for the Fannan Fellowship this inaugural year. Two students were awarded $20,000 scholarships, and eight students received $5,000 scholarships.
The Class of 2023 Fellows who received a $20,000 scholarship are Rossi Bonev and Lachlan Bray. These students were chosen for their exceptional creativity and problem-solving skills, which they demonstrated through four essays and a video prompt asking them to identify the issues that they would work on in Tahoe if they had $1M.
The Class of 2023 runners-up, who received a $5,000 scholarship, are Forrest Jones, Erin Yamaoka, Evelyn Bennett, Chris Haven, Milo King, Kyla Schrauben, Frank Langenfeld, and Hailey Rossi. These students also showed exceptional creativity along with their academic success.
"We were blown away by the quality of the applications we received for the Fannan Fellowship," said Marcella Foundation Executive Director, Melissa Uppendahl. "The applicants' creativity and drive to make a positive impact in the world were truly inspiring. We're excited to see what these students will accomplish in the future, and we're honored to be able to support their dreams through the Fannan Fellowship."
The Fannan Fellowship will be an annual scholarship, and the Marcella Foundation looks forward to continuing to support creative problem solvers in the years to come. The Marcella Foundation will match any contribution up to $10,000 for next year’s scholarship fund. Donations can be made at: www.marcellafoundation.org/give.
To honor the awardees, the Marcella Foundation put together this video showcasing the students work: Fannan Fellowship 2023 - YouTube
