Craig P. Hutchinson Memorial Scholarship
At the Independent Martial Arts School, we are devoted to excellence in the learning, and teaching, of self-defense. Beyond this central purpose, we also seek to foster good attitudes and scholastic achievement among our students. At every opportunity, we encourage them to stay in school, focus on their homework, share news of their achievements with our instructors, and pursue higher education after high school.
In 1993, a scholarship fund was established by the Independent Karate School (predecessor to the IMAS) to honor the memory of an outstanding student: Craig P. Hutchinson.
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Earning his black belt in 1985, Craig demonstrated leadership qualities in every facet of his life and served as a great source of inspiration to many of our younger students. To our community's great loss, Craig contracted infectious mononucleosis while a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University and passed away on December 30th, 1992. Craig exemplified the spirit of the martial arts as he astounded his doctors at University Hospital with his courageous will to live.
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The Craig P. Hutchinson Memorial Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit scholarship foundation that supports post graduate educational endeavors of hardworking black belts of the Independent Martial Arts School of Nashua (formerly known as the Independent Karate School).
This foundation has been a federally recognized non-profit since 2007 and continues to fund higher education aspirations of our hardworking students who exemplify the values instilled by the IMAS. In recent years, our good fortune has allowed us to grant an annual award of $10,000 to our recipients. Since the IMAS takes great pride in all who achieve the rank of black belt in their school, selecting the scholarship winner each year is one of the greatest, yet most gratifying, challenges we face as a non-profit.
Applications are now open!
Open to any IMAS black belt pursuing post-secondary education.
Deadline: February 25, 2026
Scholarship Impact
$181,540
in scholarships awarded
35
Recipients to date
Meet our Recipients
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Kaylee Barchard
2026 Recipient
Kaylee is a Nidan in both Kenpo and Enshudo Jiu-Jitsu at our school, and is in the 2026 graduating class at Hollis-Brookline High School. She will be studying at University of New Hampshire in their Honors College as she plans to pursue a dual major in English Education and Linguistics.
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![Young man with braided hair sitting outdoors on grass, smiling at the camera.]()
Michael Mwaniki
2025 Recipient
Michael is a second-degree Kenpo black belt and instructor with the Independent Martial Arts School. He is currently in Boston College’s Pre-Med program with the aspirations to go into dentistry as an oral surgeon.
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![A young woman with long, wavy blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing gold earrings and a pink cardigan, standing outdoors with a blurred green background.]()
Annika Hayden
2024 Recipient
Annika is a second-degree black belt in our school, and she graduated from Nashua High North in 2024. She is currently dual-majoring in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
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![Portrait of a smiling woman with dark hair in a ponytail, wearing a white athletic top with Under Armour logo.]()
Kaitlyn Frye
2024 Recipient
Kaitlyn is a first-degree black belt in our school who graduated from Nashua High South in 2024. She is currently dual-majoring Journalism and Economics at Simmons College in Boston.
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![A smiling woman with dark curly hair, wearing a light gray blazer over a dark top, against a dark background.]()
Anna Correia
2017 Recipient
After high school, Anna went on to graduate with high distinction from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in Architectural Engineering and a M.S. in Fire Protection Engineering. She is currently working in Massachusetts as a life safety code consultant, helping architects and owners find compliant fire protection, life safety, and accessibility solutions for their buildings. She lives with her fiancee and their two cats in New Hampshire.
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![A man with dark hair and a beard wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and blue tie, smiling against a plain light-colored background.]()
Nikhil Karnane
2016 Recipient
After graduating high school, Nikhil went to Bentley University, obtaining a degree in Economics and Finance. When he graduated, he moved to the Boston suburbs and started working at Wayfair, doing Performance Marketing Analytics, and leading the management of Search Marketing channels for Wayfair's specialty brands. He still speaks about how impactful his experiences with the IKS/IMAS were in shaping his current self
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![A woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair, smiling, wearing a white blazer and a patterned top, standing against a beige wall.]()
Stephanie Barber (Marquis)
2001 Recipient
Stephanie graduated as Salutatorian of the Merrimack High School class of 2001, and obtained a degree in Theatre from Boston College in 2005, as well as a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Southern California in 2015. She currently works as an education technology product manager for Teaching.com. There, she runs the app Reading.com - built for parents to teach their kids how to read at home. She lives with her husband and son in Long Beach, CA (in a historic 1914 Craftsman home) and she misses the dojo all the time!
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![A man with glasses, a beard, and a white cap smiling, with part of a person's head in a red cap and yellow shirt on the left, and part of someone wearing a blue shirt on the right.]()
Rich Mohrmann Jr
2000 Recipient
Since graduating high school in 2000, Rich pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and a minor in Music from the University of New Hampshire. His career has taken him through Fidelity Investments, JP Morgan Chase, Atrium Medical, and his current role as a Senior Decision Support Analyst with Covenant Health. He also works in laser crafting and sees seasonal work as a professional Santa Claus. He has been married to his wife Kristyn for over fifteen years and lives with their two cats: Rico and Mulan. Outside of work, he stays involved with gardening, hunting, and youth ministry volunteering at his church.
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