We are three seniors at STEM High School for Boys - 6th of October—Egypt’s top-ranked public high school. We have been accepted into Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), one of the world’s leading institutions for engineering and technology (QS World University Rank: 54th, 2026).

We have been offered a life-changing scholarship that covers 100% of our tuition plus a living stipend. However, there is one hurdle standing in our way: to confirm our enrollment, we must pay a $7,920 USD deposit + Visa Application fees ($2,640 each). The deadline is March 31st, 2026, which is rapidly approaching.

Why we are asking for your help:

In Egypt, the current economic climate makes it nearly impossible for our families to provide this upfront deposit on such short notice. The deposit amounts to approximately 2 years of our annual income.

This is a temporary "Bridge Loan" from the community. The deposit is refundable once we arrive on campus and our scholarship kicks in. Our commitment to you: Once we are settled at PolyU and receive our funds, we intend to refund back the money to you, kind donors. If we cannot return it due to transfer issues, we will be donating it to those in need, ensuring that every deserving person can be supported.

Regarding the scholarship conditions, an analysis of past graduating classes shows these requirements are highly attainable. Given our expected final grades and our standing among the top students at our school, we are fully confident we will meet all requirements.

Meet the Students (Left to Right)

Kareem Elkassas:

Scored 1530/1600 on the SAT and 118/120 on the TOEFL.

Lead the N-Body simulations section for COMPASS, the first Egyptian computational physics summer program, mentoring 20 students. (https://www.octphysicsclub.org/compass/)

Egyptian Olympiad in Computational Sciences problem author and boot-camp mentor.

Mentored 40+ students in the October Physics Club, leading them to international honors.

Global Rank: 24th out of 1,181 in the International Physics Realm (Grade 10). (https://iphr.octphysicsclub.org/)

Mostafa Mohammad:

Ranked #1 globally for "Scrapyard Giza," a 12-hour hackathon for underprivileged youth. (https://stemeghackclub.org/Hackathons/scrapyard)

Founded Egypt’s first national youth cybersecurity competition EYCC, with 640+ sign-ups. (https://eycc.stemeghackclub.org/)

Raised over $3,400 from companies like GitHub to provide free tech education to 1,200+ students.

Academic Rank: 1st out of 190,000 students in his governorate (Grade 9).

Mohamed Hassan:

Ranked 12th out of 15,000+ applicants in the National STEM Admission Test.

Maintained a perfect 4.00 GPA (Ranked 1st on school) throughout Grade 10 and 11.

Founder & Director of EOCS: Launched Egypt’s first Olympiad in Computational Science, reaching 780+ students and securing partnerships with Egypt University of Informatics (https://www.linkedin.com/company/eg-ocs).

Capstone Project Senior Mentor: Delivered 80+ sessions for the STEM Capstone program, guiding 75 students to top-tier research rankings.