You’ve probably seen senior Sammi Peterson performing in band or getting us into the Cougar spirit before a game or assembly. You probably didn’t know, however, that Sammi received a scholarship from the Veterans Affairs Hospital, otherwise known as the VA Hospital, and Sammi is the 3rd person in the entire nation to receive it.

When she found out, she said she kept re-reading it over and over again until she realized what she had received. She plans on using part of her scholarship for her tuition at Grand Canyon University. How did she get this scholarship exactly? Well, Sammi put in over 600 hours of her time into community service at the V.A. and was awarded “Student Volunteer of the Year” at the hospital. Her mom works at the VA, so she says, “I’ve pretty much grown up around there.  It’s kind of like a second home to me.  It’s where I go for Senior Ditch Day and where I’ll go tomorrow, during the 1/2 day.” Sammi gets a great feeling helping veterans.  “They put so much of their own lives into helping us, so I like helping them in return.”

When asked why she chose GCU, she responded, “I picked GCU because when I visited it, I got a type of feeling where I knew it was going to be my new home. GCU has a fantastic medical program, which is what I will be studying.” She also added that her scholarship will be very beneficial to take some of the financial pressure off of her college tuition. After high school, Sammi plans on moving to GCU in August for 4 years to major in biology with an emphasis in pre-med to become a trauma surgeon. “For receiving 3rd in the nation, I’m extremely impressed with myself because I truly didn’t think I would be able to get a scholarship and it’s a great honor to be recognized out of all the student volunteers who have put so much hard work into what they do.”

We congratulate Sammi for her massive accomplishment! Way to go Sammi!