Yash Shirsath Uses Bemley Scholarship at University of Pennsylvania

Yash Shirsath

Yash Shirsath is on of the rare students to earn a Dr. Jesse Bemley Scholarship for all five years of eligibility as a member of the BDPA Atlanta chapter. His scholarship earnings included winning the entire High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championship in both 2012 and 2015.

Yash will use his Bemley Scholarship towards his education at the University of Pennsylvania.  Yash is a National Presidential Scholar and part of the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology.  As part of this selective program, Yash will receive a bachelors degree in Economics from Wharton Business School and another bachelors degree in Computer and Information Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania. He is very interested in entrepreneurship and plans to innovate in the startup space.

When asked to share his memories of the HSCC journey, Yash wrote,

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"I have had the pleasure of being part of the HSCC program for five years. I came in as a timid rising 9th grader who knew nothing about the fantastical world of computing. HSCC not only gave me concrete and marketable but it also fostered a great passion within me.

2015 HSCC Champions

One of my favorite memories from HSCC that really encapsulates my experience in the program occurred right in the maelstrom of competition. We had just completed eight grueling hours of coding and we were pitching our product to a panel of judges. It had all come down to those few moments. Months of preparation and dedication. From myself. From my teammates. From my coaches.

I was in the middle of explaining the intricacies of the security features that we had encoded into the product, when it hit me. This wasn't just a competition. I could have just as easily been standing in a boardroom, talking to executives about our product. We had gained so many skills from this program that we blurred the line between student and professional. This knowledge has really propelled me throughout my career as a computer science student. When I look forward and envision all of the opportunities that lay ahead, I know that HSCC opened the door to so many of them."

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Yash is a remarkable young man. BDPA looks forward to following his career as he progresses through college and on into the boardroom within Corporate America or his own company! Please note that the Bemley Scholarship Fund is made up of individual donations from people like yourself. Please take a moment to recognize young people like Yash with a secure online donation!