Algonquin Chick-fil-A employee receives $25,000 scholarship; ‘It’s literally life-changing’

When camera crews arrived Wednesday at the Algonquin Chick-fil-A off Randall Road, employee Ryan Fist was told they were shooting a commercial.

But they were actually there to announce he won a $25,000 scholarship from the company.

“This is a shock,” Fist said as he was surprised with an oversized check by CEO Andrew Cathy.

Fist was awarded the $25,000 True Inspiration scholarship, which 14 employees across North America receive each year. The money will help Fist continue his education at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago, where he aims to become a physician’s assistant specializing in pediatrics.

Fist, who has been working at the fast-food restaurant since 2018, said the scholarship will help him focus on academics and lifts “a huge weight” off of his financial worries.

Fist, his brother and their mother, Linda Fist, were in tears after receiving the news.

His brother, Kevin, who also works at the same Chick-fil-A location, was awarded a $2,500 scholarship to help support his goals of becoming a teacher. He hopes to become a middle or high school teacher and coach, since coaches were his male role models growing up.

“Growing up, we didn’t have the biggest house or the coolest clothes,” Ryan Fist said as he thanked his mom for her support, especially for playing the role of both parents as a single mom since he was 5 years old. “But I truly believe we’re one of the luckiest guys in the world.”

Ryan Fist, who graduated from Crystal Lake’s Prairie Ridge High School in 2020, will be finishing his bachelor’s degree at Lake Forest College this year and will start at Rosalind Franklin University in May. He said he always wanted to work with kids to make them feel more comfortable in the scary medical environment.

He was also awarded a new MacBook laptop, which came in a tin shaped as a larger-than-life Chick-fil-A sauce packet.

The company “could not have picked a better person” for the $25,000 True Inspiration scholarship, Algonquin’s Chick-fil-A owner and operator JD Willis said.

Chick-fil-A will award over $26 million in scholarships to more than 14,000 employees across America, Canada and Puerto Rico this year, according to a news release.

Chick-fil-A began awarding scholarships to its employees in 1973, Cathy said. It all started with his grandfather, who had aspirations for others to continue their education since he didn’t have the opportunity.

“It’s a small token to help them get to what they want to accomplish,” Cathy said.