2021-22 President's Scholars

Samantha N. Felix

Hugh and Judy La Bounty President’s Scholar

Major: Psychology

College of Letters, Arts, and Social Studies

University Programs: Educational Opportunity Program participant, César E. Chávez Center For Higher Education participant

Samantha Felix appreciates psychology as a tool that “can help people of all ages to learn to establish connections.” She uses that tool to establish ties within the community, working for the City of Pomona’s Eagle Lounge, where she organizes fundraising events for the elderly, and for the city’s Police Explorer program, and as a youth dance instructor. As a California Promise Pledge student, Samantha is excited to complete her degree in four years and credits the Educational Opportunity Program and its advisors who “have always provided me a safe space to be who I am.” Family support also motivates Samantha’s academic excellence. “I am a first-generation college student, and my parents try their best to be involved and are always concerned with my physical and emotional wellbeing,” she says. “I desire to make them both proud and earn this degree for them, my family and for my future.” Samantha sees herself in forensic investigation or social work and is “excited to see what doors this degree will open.”