2026 Scholarship America Dream Award Spotlight: Vaqas Qudus

Scholarship America is proud to celebrate our 2026 class of Dream Award Scholars.

Each of these students has overcome obstacles and begun their college journey thanks to their grit, drive and determination—and the Dream Award provides them essential financial support so they can complete their education with less debt and less stress.

These renewable scholarships stay with students through the remainder of their college careers, ensuring that they can stay on track and finish their degrees. Since its founding in 2014, the Dream Award has helped nearly 200 talented, determined learners, and we’re excited to welcome the 2026 Dream Award cohort.

Today we’re introducing Vaqas Qudus, a second-year computer science student at the University of Virginia. “I found the Scholarship America Dream Award while looking for scholarships online that reflected my values and who I am,” he said. “I am extremely grateful that the foundation has placed immense trust in me and chose me as a recipient for the Dream Award. I hope to continue to embody the core values represented in my past work.”

Here’s our conversation with Vaqas; watch our blog to meet more Dream Award Scholars over the coming weeks.

What inspired you to pursue your field of study?

I was first exposed to computer science through the computational work I was doing for my astrophysics research. However, what truly pushed me towards computer science was how the field connects deeply to my hope to benefit the world. Volunteering one’s time and skills to improve the technological world and provide high-quality free software and resources to people around the world permeates the field through the Open Source and Free Software movements. Likewise, reading about trailblazers in the field like Dennis Ritchie, Linus Torvalds, Ken Thompson, and Brian Kernighan, who all had unprecedented effects on the modern technological age, inspires me tremendously.

What stresses does the Dream Award relieve? Are you able to pursue opportunities or outside activities you couldn’t before?

The Dream Award greatly relieves the stress of the financial burden of my college education. I believe the most significant impact of the scholarship, outside of more time to pursue opportunities, is the peace of mind I am granted. This allows me to focus on my goals with much less stress, and I am extremely grateful to Scholarship America for that.

How are you spending your summer, and what are you most looking forward to when school starts again?

This summer, I plan to spend my time focused more on my personal health. I deeply challenged myself during my first year in college, and I explored many different fields of study. I ultimately chose computer science after working extensively with code while doing astrophysics research. I will spend the next few months improving my skills and my overall health.

When school starts up again, I am most looking forward to seeing many of the friends I made during my first year, as well as taking the engineering and mathematics coursework I enrolled in.

What’s your dream or ideal plan right after graduating? How about in five years?

I am honestly unsure of a dream or ideal plan after graduating, as I feel I am not experienced enough to have such an opinion. However, I hope to do meaningful work that benefits people around the world, and I hope to use my deep interest in computer science to do so, whether that includes contributing to projects like Linux, or starting my own initiative.

If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

I would tell myself to take more risks. Winning the Dream Award would be a perfect example of why one should do that. When I first applied, I doubted myself, but I still felt I should take a risk and put some trust in myself to try. A good way to put this feeling is the idea that winners often fail more than losers, as those who try their best increase their chances for amazing opportunities and are able to learn from their experiences (including losses).

Likewise, I would encourage myself to truly focus on what I am interested in. While we often pressure people to focus and engage on certain topics as youth, I believe using that time to explore what one is interested in is a much better use of their time. This is often because one will perform better in something they are genuinely passionate about, and I believe that brings great fulfillment.