Samantha’s College Dream

Samantha is a burn survivor who has been awarded the MacDonald Wood Scholarship for the second semester in a row. Here is her testimonial:

When I was 14 years old, I was tested to see where I was academically speaking in comparison to my peers. I found out that although I was a freshman in high school I was reading and writing at a third and fourth grade reading level. In just four years of high school, I was able to not only start being on par with my peers, but I was actually surpassing most of them. Now that I’m attending college my drive for education has only increased, I’ve been able to maintain a 4.0 this last school year at Estrella Mountain Community College, even making the presidential honor list proving to myself and others how capable and passionate I really am about pursuing my academics.

I wanted to take the time to thank the Arizona Burn Foundation for providing me with the opportunity to pursue my academic goals. Without financial assistance there’s no way I could attend college. No one in my family has ever graduated from college, most of my family didn’t even finish high school; it’s hard to formulate in words how much gratitude I feel towards the Foundation given that they are solely responsible for my ability to pursue something that not only I want for myself but something that my entire family has wanted for a long time.

A favorite quote of Samantha’s is “your life is not measured by what you have done for yourself, but by what you’ve done for others.” We are honored to be a part of Samantha’s journey and see where she goes as she pursues higher education.