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Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval greeted 50 high-achieving precocious schoolhouse graduates from crossed California who marque up the 26th cohort of the Smittcamp Family Honors College.
Established successful 1998 done a generous $1 cardinal acquisition from Earl and Muriel Smittcamp, the Smittcamp Family Honors College continues to thrive with enactment from the Smittcamp family, section donors and alumni.
The incoming people was selected from a competitory excavation of implicit 500 applicants, said Dr. Saeed Attar, manager of the Smittcamp Family Honors College. Each student receives a President’s Honors Scholarship, up to a maximum of 8 semesters, for their undergraduate grade program. Each scholarship, valued astatine $6,000 per world year, besides covers an optional recognition for a modular country successful assemblage lodging should a student take to unrecorded connected campus.
Among the caller scholars is Adilene Gomez, a first-generation assemblage pupil who is the first-ever honors student from Orange Cove High School. Growing up successful a agrarian municipality aft moving from Las Vegas, Gomez recovered solace successful her close-knit community, which mirrored her ain Mexican American heritage. However, arsenic the archetypal successful her household to be college, she faced important challenges, peculiarly navigating the complexities of the assemblage exertion process without familial support.
“When I was looking astatine colleges, it was hard astatine first,” Gomez said. “The process required definite paperwork that my parents, arsenic non-citizens, couldn’t provide. This added a batch of stress, and I often wondered if I could spend assemblage astatine all.”
Encouraged by a precocious schoolhouse unit subordinate who was a Fresno State alumna and a Smittcamp scholar, Gomez decided to use for the Smittcamp Honors College, adjacent though the programme seemed “so prestigious” that she initially doubted her chances of getting in.
The honors assemblage successful the California State University strategy is distinctive due to the fact that it admits President’s Scholars arsenic a cohort. The scholars acquisition a acceptable of specially crafted honors courses, prosecute successful play colloquiums with impermanent speakers and discussions, and enactment successful educational, scholarly and societal activities.
“When I received the email that I was admitted, I cried,” Gomez said. “It was a reminder that erstwhile 1 doorway closes, different opens. I realized that with determination and hard work, thing is retired of reach.”
Gomez is pursuing a pre-health large with a absorption connected nursing, drawn to the field’s wide opportunities to marque a quality successful people’s lives. She is anxious to immerse herself successful the divers field situation and is already gathering connections with her peers. Through the honors college, Gomez looks guardant to giving backmost to her community, a halfway worth of the programme done assemblage work work.
President’s Scholars are required to unpaid a minimum of 70 hours of assemblage work during their four-year stay. For example, during the world twelvemonth 2023-24, scholars performed a full of 4,045 hours of assemblage work astatine 67 events with 37 organizations connected and disconnected campus.
“I’m truthful grateful for this opportunity,” Gomez said. “There’s truly nary programme successful the state similar this one. It’s an grant to beryllium here, and I’m excited to spot however I tin turn and lend implicit the adjacent 4 years.”
To stay a subordinate successful bully standing, a student indispensable enroll successful astatine slightest 12 units each semester and support a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.25 successful their archetypal year, 3.35 successful the 2nd year, and 3.5 successful 3rd and 4th years. Over 90% of the President’s Scholars postgraduate successful 4 years, mostly with the summa cum laude (3.9 to 4.0 GPA) distinction.
The 2024 President’s Scholars are:
- Ray Alfaro (Firebaugh High)
- Taleen Alkhayyat (Madera High)
- Johnathan Andrade (Riverdale High)
- Jaskaran Badesha (Sanger High)
- Lavina Botros (Clovis North High)
- Bryson Brandon (Kingsburg High)
- Benjamin Bylsma (Turlock Christian High)
- Isabelle Caquias (Reedley Middle College High)
- Christian R.J. Castillo (Clovis East High)
- Leanne Chavez (Clovis East High)
- Mya Correa (Golden West High-Visalia)
- Kamdyn Dotson (Buchanan High)
- Victoria Edwards (Clovis High)
- Luis Alonso Figueroa Hernández (Kerman High)
- Brendan Fregoso (Hallmark Charter School- Sanger)
- Delyssa Garcia (Fowler High)
- Genesis Garcia (Parlier High)
- Jonathan Gerena (Clovis North High)
- Adilene Gomez (Orange Cove High)
- Giselle Gomez (Justin Garza High)
- Sophie Heu (Clovis High)
- Alyiah Imperial (Sierra Pacific High)
- Harmanpreet Kaur (Clovis North High)
- Yamin Kiwan (University High)
- Kelsey Lieng (Buchanan High)
- Ella Lopez (Clovis High)
- Luis Macias (McLane High)
- Luz Angelica Medina (Corcoran High)
- Kaitlyn Mundello (John H. Pitman High-Turlock)
- Luciano Noguera (Redwood High-Visalia)
- Sam Elisha Pakingan (Clovis East High)
- Kernpal Parmar (Clovis East High)
- Andrea Parra Lopez (Dinuba High)
- Sopanha Peo (University High)
- Mustafa Ramadan (Clovis North High)
- Maxine Ramirez (Clovis North High)
- Sophia Riser (University High)
- Jacqueline Rocha (Fowler High)
- Angela Rosa (Firebaugh High)
- Lukas Rosas (Santa Maria High)
- Emily Sahakian (Buchanan High)
- Anessa Sarieddine (Clovis High)
- Manroop Singh (Sanger High)
- Harjap Singh (Clovis East High)
- Areeba Syed (Clovis North High)
- Austin Tathong (Clovis West High)
- Palak Tohan (Selma High)
- Kevin Vang (Sunnyside High)
- Brianna Voon (University High)
- Julia Yang (Clovis North)
(Written by Katie Xiong, University Marketing and Communications quality assistant.)
