Meet the 2026 CASL STEM Scholars

Thanks to the generous support of our donors, CASL’s STEM Scholarship program was able support six Chicago students as they start their first year of college this fall. The scholarship will put up to $5,000 a year toward undergradute tuition for each of them as they head off to study engineering, chemistry, computer science, physics and public health.

The scholarship was started by Ann and Tony Yeung, and it’s open to Chicago Public and Charter school seniors with at least a 3.5 weighted GPA who are headed into a four-year STEM program and can show financial need. Recipients keep the award as long as they stay enrolled and hold a 2.75 GPA. On top of the money, this year’s scholars are paired with a mentor through CASL’s new partnership with TERN mentoring — so the support doesn’t stop once they get to campus.

Four of this year’s scholars got to meet their mentor in person at CASL’s Cultural Voices on May 28, where Tina Fox of TERN Mentoring welcomed them into the program. “It is with great honor that I join you on this small part of your journey,” Fox told them. “For each of you to receive a mentor when you’re in this moment of transition and of growth and discovery is going to be so important. I can’t wait to see where your journey takes you.”

Let’s meet this year’s class.

Dax Kato is heading to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to study civil engineering. A senior at Lane Tech, he’s spent his Saturdays volunteering at a local food pantry and co-runs a student charity grill club that supports the Irving Park Food Pantry. He’s also VP of Lane Tech’s Filipino Club. Kato’s real passion, though, is urban infrastructure — walkability, bikeability, how a city’s design shapes daily life — something he’s thought a lot about while biking around Chicago and watching how other cities do it differently. He even keeps a blog on engineering and urban equity.

Shimra Khan, also a Lane Tech senior, is off to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study chemistry. She’s a first-generation college student who founded and runs Teens4Change, debates on the varsity team, and spent time researching Alzheimer’s disease through the Pioneer Research Institute. She volunteers with Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America and Comer Children’s Hospital. At home, Khan has long been the translator and go-between for her mother, a Pakistani immigrant, and she helped hold her family together through her sister’s kidney transplant during freshman year.

Jia Sheng Lin is headed to Stanford to study computer science or math. A senior at Whitney Young, his family immigrated from Taishan, China, and he’s been translating for them since he was a kid. He helped Whitney Young’s math team win a city championship, captains the table tennis team to a state title, and spent a full year tutoring seventh-grade algebra five days a week.

Selina Lin will study public health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A senior at Payton, she’s spent five years with Project: VISION, including a stint interning on their social media, and has mentored middle schoolers along the way. She’s also a competitive swimmer and water polo player with a background in studio art and photography.

Zongyang Lin is going to the University of Michigan for engineering. A senior at Curie, he pushed his way into AP Computer Science as a freshman and knocked out dual-credit college math as a sophomore. He also brings three years of architectural design training to the table alongside robotics leadership, Academic Decathlon and math team.

Alan Luu is off to the University of Colorado Boulder to study physics. A senior at Jones, he founded his school’s rocketry team and co-founded the Chicago Aerospace Organization, which gives South Side elementary schools free access to aerospace mentorship. He captains the math team, leads the underwater ROV subteam on robotics, and got his first job at 15 to help pay for his own engineering pursuits.

Want to help support the next class of scholars? Reach out to donate@casl.org — every contribution to the STEM Scholarship Fund helps a student like these six get where they’re going.