UC Santa Barbara has welcomed 24 first year (and in many cases, first generation) students to its 2025 PROEL Cohort. The program's title is an acronym for PRomoting OPportunity and Equity in Learning. It is a donor-funded initiative in the Division of Social Sciences empowering Social Science majors to enhance their academic, personal, and professional experience at UC Santa Barbara.
PROPEL scholars create an academic plan to graduate in four years while maintaining a 2.75 GPA/quarter and meeting with staff regularly to ensure their success. In addition to receiving financial assistance, PROPEL Scholars also benefit from social events, future work and career advice, and shared experiences with this close-knit community.
PROPEL Director Bryan Zuniga, who officially welcomed the students into the program in a Sept. 24 orientation meeting, said the new scholars enjoyed meeting eachother and were excited to begin their journey and share their aspirations with fellow students.
"We were able to sit-down and engage with our incoming students, learning a bit more about their personal motivations and goals for their time at UC Santa Barbara while providing a warm introduction to our scholarship program and active student community," Zuniga said. "Not only was it a great afternoon, but also a moment to recognize the momentum we've accrued and the significance of our work in shaping the university experiences of these students. We also had a small group of continuing scholars agree to speak about their own experiences in being a part of PROPEL, which was an awesome way to further establish a sense of community and student-belief in everything that we strive to do."
Second year PROPEL scholar Jasmine Carabajal-Guerrero also spoke to students about her experience in the program. "PROPEL helped me feel like I truly deserved to be here at UCSB—that I had a reason to be here and that my journey mattered," she said.
Incoming scholars include:
GONZALEZ, LISSETH (Anthropology)
MIRONES, JOHNATHAN (Anthropology)
MEDELLIN, HENNESSY (Chicana and Chicano Studies)
RODRIGUEZ, EMILIO (Chicana and Chicano Studies)
CHAVEZ FLORES, CAMILA (Pre-Communication)
LEON SANCHEZ, CITLALY (Pre-Communication)
NGUYEN, ANGELA (Pre-Communication)
PADILLA FLORES, DULCE (Pre-Communication)
BAHA, AMIR (Pre-Economics)
MARENTES, CHRISTOPHER (Pre-Economics)
MUNOZ, XIMENA (Pre-Economics)
SALAS, YASMIN (Pre-Economics)
NUNEZ-RAMIREZ, ISAAC (Pre-Economics and Accounting)
RAMIREZ, IZIC (Pre-Economics and Accounting)
GUINAN, ANNABELL (Pre-Global Studies)
RUIZ-BAUTISTA, VICTORIA (Pre-Global Studies)
TANGELAND, DANIELLE (Pre-Global Studies)
ALARCON, MIKE (Pre-Political Science)
BELLO, ANGELICA (Pre-Political Science)
LESLIE, KHALIA (Pre-Political Science)
PEREZ, KARLA (Pre-Political Science)
VERDIN, JUSTIN (Pre-Political Science)
KOSSACK, AVA (Pre-Sociology)
MARTINEZ SILVA, LIZETH (Pre-Sociology)