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)

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.

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.

The Craig P. Hutchinson Memorial Scholarship 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.