Meet the Flinn Scholar Finalist at Lincoln Prep

Lincoln Prep senior, Joshua Tom, was selected as a Flinn Scholar Finalist. “The Flinn Scholarship, considered Arizona’s most competitive merit-based scholarship, is awarded to excelling high school students that are selected from more than 1,000 applicants.” said Rachel Corcos, a college counselor at Lincoln Prep. Tom was selected out of these 1,000 applicants as one of the 80 semi-finalists, and now he is one of just 37 finalists.

“I was just looking through full ride scholarships and it caught my eyes as the Arizona exclusive, prestigious scholarship. I applied to it just to give it a shot. Thought it would be interesting,” said Tom. “To become a finalist, you have to push yourself a little more and be more personal. We had to do an online interview and they just tried to see what kind of person we were.”

Tom said the next step in the process is a finalist interview with a larger panel. This is the last step in determining which of the finalists will become Flinn Scholars. Tom explained that the panel will, “See if I’m worth the investment and if I truly can help Arizona as a Flinn Scholar. [A Flinn Scholar is] a very motivated and driven person. They’re very smart and intellectual, but above all, they want to help and benefit Arizona.

Tom was awarded the National Hispanic Recognition Award and is a National Commended Scholar, meaning his PSAT score was amongst the top 3-4% in the nation!

According to Corcos, Tom was very involved in Boy Scouts for many years. He is interested in coding and software development, with several years of experience in HTML, Web Dev, Python, JAVA, and CSS. He has earned several coding certificates in Object Relational Mapping, MVC Framework, Professional Web App development, API’S and Databases, and User Interface Development.

It’s not surprising that his intention is to pursue computer studies when he starts college next year. Tom has chosen Arizona State University, where he will be majoring in computer engineering at the Barrett Honors College. “I’m hoping to grow as a person, as a student, and just build on what I’ve already gotten at Great Hearts,” he said.

Tom explained that there are a lot of benefits and connections that come with being a Flinn Scholar, including full-ride scholarships. “They pay for tuition and housing. There’s also a multi-week travel abroad program. We also have study abroad programs, as well,” he said. “There’s a massive community of super passionate people that I can connect to.”

The benefits of Flinn Scholarship would mean a great deal to Tom and his family, but the individual growth and development it would offer this student hold an even greater significance. “If I do become a Flinn Scholar, it proves that extracurricular studying, just doing good in school, and becoming passionate in certain things would all really pay off,” he said. “I’m going to try my best so whatever happens, happens and I’ve made a lot of connections and I’ve learned a lot of different things. I think it’s just exciting!”

We look forward to seeing great things in the future from this Great-Hearted scholar.