Samantha
Samantha was born in Haiti and came to the US when she was in elementary school. She is the oldest of five and takes her responsibility as the oldest sibling seriously. Her mother and father worked two to three jobs at a time and pushed all their children to excel academically. They wanted a different future for their children and came to the US to make it happen.
Samantha excelled academically and became a top student at Coral Reef Senior High School. She got involved in many organizations in school and dreamed of becoming a lawyer to defend people’s rights. Nevertheless, she struggled with standardized testing and would become extremely nervous. Despite all the support and test prep Branches provided, Samantha continued to perform poorly on the tests. As a result, she was denied to all the universities she applied to her senior year, including FAMU which she had really wanted to attend. Samantha was upset but was more worried about the example she was setting for her younger siblings.
At the Branches Pre-Gala Reception her senior year, Branches’ staff made a connection with someone who was on the FAMU Board who told us to let him know if we ever needed anything. A few weeks later, Branches’ staff reached out to him to see if FAMU could give Samantha an opportunity to prove herself. Thankfully, FAMU did and allowed Samantha to attend in the summer, where she aced her classes and started with a 4.0 GPA.
Samantha benefited from the Branches family of connections even more while she was in Tallahassee. The son of a stakeholder who was in the law community met with her and shared with her opportunities where she could intern in Tallahassee and areas for growth that would benefit her future career in the field of law. As a result, she decided to become an English major to improve her writing and communication skills which are vital to successful lawyers.
In May of 2023 Samantha graduated from FAMU with honors and today works at a criminal defense law firm as a secretary in Indiana. In December of that same year, she was promoted to lead the paralegal department in the family law part of the firm. Samantha is working to gain experience before applying to her dream, law school. Congratulations Samantha, we are so proud of you!
