Who We Are

AREAS OF EXPERTISE | Leading a coalition of hardworking students, teachers, and educators to further college access for first-generation college-going New Mexicans. Working with financial aid offices, creating partnerships with college access organizations, college counseling students, & biking on gravel roads.

Sam has been working to increase college access in New Mexico since 2007. He began his career as an undergraduate Summer Teaching Fellow with Breakthrough Santa Fe. Following college, he served as an AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow with Citizen Schools at De Vargas Middle School in Santa Fe, NM. Eventually, he returned to Breakthrough Santa Fe as the Associate Director and later Co-Director of the program. In 2017, he became the founding Director of the Davis New Mexico Scholarship.  Connect with me on LinkedIn

RECOMMENDED READING | Hold Fast to Dreams, Beth Zasloff & Josua Steckel

M.Ed. Education, Lesley University (Cambridge, MA) | B.A. History, Religion, Carleton College (Northfield, MN) | William H. Hall High School (West Hartford, CT)

AREAS OF EXPERTISE | Wrangling scholarship data, building a network of college access professionals, assessing and translating technology needs, & finding free food.

A staunch advocate for public and equitable education (and a true education nerd), Hanna has spent a decade volunteering, working with, or working on behalf of youth and educators. In college, she held various education internships and fellowships in New York, D.C., and San Francisco, which ultimately led her to her first job teaching high school geometry in the South Bronx. Prior to joining the Davis New Mexico Scholarship in 2020, she spent 5 years in Oakland, CA leading national data collection, analysis, and dissemination efforts at Breakthrough Collaborative.

RECOMMENDED READING | Your Silence Will Not Protect You, Audre Lorde

B.A. Sociology, Pomona College (Claremont, CA) | Millburn High School (Millburn, NJ)

AREAS OF EXPERTISE | College counseling students, case managing college students, working with families, & keeping the office up-to-date on celebrity news and astrology.

Alejandra first joined the Davis New Mexico Scholarship in 2014 as a member of its inaugural class of scholars. In college, she worked in the business office and as a TA for her psychology professor’s Serial Killers class. Though her interests have shifted, her commitment to working with undergraduate students has remained. A former Breakthrough Santa Fe and AVID Santa Fe student, her ties to and knowledge of the city run deep. She joined the Davis New Mexico Scholarship as staff in 2018.

RECOMMENDED READING | Privileged Poor, Anthony Abraham Jack

B.A Criminology, St. Edward’s University (Austin, TX) | Capital High School (Santa Fe, NM)