Edison Student Among The Best High School Leaders, Wins $20K Coca-Cola Scholarship

EDISON, NJ — A senior at Edison Academy has been named a 2026 Coca-Cola Scholar, earning a $20,000 college scholarship after being selected from a pool of more than 107,000 applicants nationwide.

Isaac Chan is one of just 150 students chosen for the honor — an acceptance rate of less than one-seventh of 1 percent.

The scholarship, awarded by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, recognizes academic achievement, leadership and community service through a three-stage selection process.

Chan, who attends Edison's engineering magnet school, has shaped his academic path around what he describes as the intersection of engineering, policy and international development. That pursuit took him abroad last year as a National Security Language Initiative for Youth Scholar, a competitive federal program that sends American students overseas for intensive language and cultural study.

Chan spent six weeks in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, living with a host family, attending local college classes and navigating daily life in Russian.

"I came home after six weeks with a clearer sense of purpose," he said. "As someone who attends an engineering magnet school, I've been taught to chase after the technical architecture of a solution. However, I also realized that I want to understand the human landscape solutions have to function within."

The experience deepened his commitment to people-first problem solving — an approach he said has changed how he sees his role as a student and future engineer.

"That kind of introspection has made me a better student, a better teammate, and a more interesting person," Chan said.

Chan and his fellow scholars will travel to Atlanta April 23-26 for Coca-Cola Scholars Weekend, where they will attend the 38th annual Coca-Cola Scholars Banquet and take part in a leadership development program run by program alumni. The foundation will award a combined $3.1 million in scholarships to the 2026 class.

The Coca-Cola Scholars Program, a joint effort of Coca-Cola bottlers across the U.S. and The Coca-Cola Company, is the largest corporate-sponsored, achievement-based scholarship program in the country.

Since its founding in 1986, the foundation has awarded more than $90 million in scholarships to over 7,200 students.

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