What makes Pasadena unique as a city is its deep sense of community, and for Bhart Manwani that depth of community is something to be appreciated. Every year since 2019, Mr. Manwani has worked with PEF and PUSD to support his Thurgood Marshall community by providing scholarships for a select group of students.
Immigrating from Nigeria, Bhart Manwani and his family originally believed that he wouldn’t be able to receive an education due to their financial status at the time. However, with the availability of public education with PUSD, Mr. Manwani was able to attend school for free and started his time at Marshall Fundamental in 1986. At Marshall he was able to not only receive a full high school education, but was also able to find a supportive community of friends, teachers, and neighbors. From Marshall, Mr. Manwani was able to get an education and help to grow his family’s business. Now, Bhart Manwani is a successful entrepreneur with a successful business.
“It’s really what made my dreams come true. Getting an opportunity to receive that education. To me that was the American Dream.”
-Bhart Manwani
Having achieved success, Mr. Manwani wanted to give back to the Thurgood Marshall community that helped him reach his dreams. After being connected with PEF during one of our Celebrating Our Schools events, Mr. Manwani made the decision to not just donate once, but to create a new scholarship in order to continuously support Marshall students. Every year four students who have been accepted into a college are given $5,000 to put towards college expenses. As of this year the Manwani scholarship has been given to 29 students with $145,000 being gifted in total.
And every year since the creation of the Manwani Family scholarship, previous recipients have come together to celebrate their accomplishments and bond as a community. For the past three years the activity of choice has been a fun filled night of bowling. Hosted at the Bowlero in Hastings Ranch, recipients along with their family and friends reconnected to celebrate the newest students to receive the Manwani scholarship. After bowling and other fun activities, scholarship recipients spoke out about what’s currently happening in their lives, what their future plans are, and how the scholarship helped with their post secondary education.
The Manwani 2025 scholarship recipients are:
- Erica Anaya, who will be attending UC Riverside
- Jordynn Pass, who will be attending UC Santa Cruz
- Alessandro Di Claudio, who will be attending Azusa Pacific University
- Samantha Larios, who will be attending Pasadena City College
Big congratulations to these 2025 graduates. We celebrate all their hard work and wish them the best on their future academic careers and beyond.
“It’s not just amazing that he’s showing support, but the legacy and community that’s being built.”
-Adrienne Cowherd, mother of 2023 scholarship recipient Kiara Lee
