YOUNG SCHOLARS PROGRAM
The Afghan Hoops for Hope Young Scholars Program is a selective two-year, pre-college scholarship for high-performing high school students with financial need. It provides comprehensive academic and college advising, as well as financial support for school, Afghan Hoops-sponsored summer programs, internships, and other learning enrichment opportunities.
Program Experience
Educational advisers support Young Scholars to maximize high school experiences and to go on to thrive at the nation’s top-performing colleges. Our programming and support may include:
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Identifying an appropriately rigorous high school.
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Engaging in two-year planning and goal-setting.
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Funding for academic and extracurricular opportunities, such as music and art lessons, supplemental academic classes and technology.
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Annual summer programs, including two required Young Scholar programs.
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Year-round Young Scholars community programming.
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Networking opportunities with a high-achieving peer community.
The application for the Afghan Hoops for Hope Young Scholars Program has closed. If you have any questions regarding your application status, please email us at zohra@afghoopsforhope.org.
Afghan Hoops for Hope Scholar, Horyatullah Shahbaz
Horyatullah Shahbaz, who is a member of one of the first cohorts of Afghan Hoops Scholars, has always looked for ways to reinvest his teachings in others. Horyat is studying at the American University on a Afghan Hoops for Hope scholarship, where he hopes his IT skills can help rebuild the country’s infrastructure.
Horyatullah's first day on an American University (AUAF) campus was a whirlwind. The 18-year-old Afghan Hoops for Hope Young Scholar recipient from Afghanistan missed student orientation. “I just rushed to campus, anxious, confused, not knowing what I was supposed to do, and they sent me to class,” he says with a laugh.
His interest in research and academic achievements led him to enroll at American University as a Afghan Hoops for Hope Young College Scholar, where he is majoring in Information Systems.
“It’s quite a humbling opportunity to have access to some of the best institutions in the world and be able to sit down and have conversations with one of the most educated group of people I’ve ever met,” Horyatullah says.
The U.S. State Department is rebuilding academic ties with war-torn Afghanistan after being absent for almost a quarter-century. When the Soviet army invaded, in 1979, the Fulbright Scholars Program in the country was suspended. Reinstated in 2003, it is now supporting a small but growing number of students, mostly at the graduate level. The need for scholarship opportunities led Afghan Hoops for Hope to create the Young Scholars Program in Afghanistan. Horyatullah was one of 15 Afghans who were awarded the scholarship in the 2020-2021 academic year. That number is expected to rise to 25 this year.
