Finding Her Footing
Biology major, competitive runner, and aspiring doctor, Mariam Samara learned some important lessons at Saint Mary’s. Right at the top: commitment and care.
“I was told I’d never be a good runner by my middle school coach,” says Mariam Samara ’23. That was a hard message to hear for a girl who had only recently moved with her parents from Egypt to California—and found herself in a culture and environment utterly strange.
Samara’s mother is Ecuadorian, her father Palestinian. The family had been living in Cairo before relocating to Folsom, a city of some 80,000 in California’s Sacramento County, in 2010. Fortunately for Samara, she didn’t let that one coach’s advice stop her. She started to find her footing—literally—when she began running in high school.
Samara’s high school coach originally took her under his wing, helping her go from novice runner to being one of the best on her team. She was named the captain of the track and cross country teams as well as Female Student-Athlete of the Year for her graduating class in 2019.
When it came time to go to college, her coach encouraged her to go to SMC, where she would later meet her college coach and mentor, Marty Kinsey. “He knew that Saint Mary's was a place where, however much you put in, you can get out ten times that amount,” she says. When Samara received an acceptance letter from Saint Mary’s, her high school coach told her, “‘These are the guys you want because they will be dedicated to you.’”
But Samara felt a tug to head elsewhere. “I was very strong academically, and I always knew I wanted to go to a giant school, because I thought that would give me the best chance to succeed,” she recounts.
Giant is not the first word that most would use to describe Saint Mary’s. And Samara was accepted into what she thought of as her dream school on the East Coast. “I wanted to commit myself to running there as well,” she says. “But my senior track season in high school, I tore my achilles tendon and wasn't able to fully complete preseason at any real strength; it was pretty bad. I remember emailing the coach from that school saying, ‘These are my times, this is what I love to do, I’m waitlisted for pre-med, and I would die to get on this team and prove my worth.’ And I remember the coach replied, ‘Sorry, not interested.’ That was how he addressed me; not that he was sorry, but that he was not interested, point blank.”
Here in California, it was another story. “Saint Mary’s was the only school that post-injury was still coming to watch me race, still texting me to see how I was doing,” Samara says. “They were committed to me, not only as an athlete, but as a person.”
Something Basic and Human
Having run for more than eight years now, Samara is a fierce competitor, be it on the track battling to achieve a new personal record in the mile, or on the dirt path of a grueling cross country course, trekking through winding hills and rough terrain to finish a 5K race. Today, Samara still loves to run, but it means much more than winning races—although that is still important.
“Running is my time to be me,” she says. “Not a student, not a daughter, not a part of the community. I'm just being, and I feel safe. It’s not to say I don't feel safe in other areas. But I feel one with who I truly am … Running at its core is one of the most basic, human and innate activities. Do I love running fast and kicking ass and winning? Of course. But for me, I never expected to win, and that’s okay.”
Admittedly, Samara understands that she was not built to be a medal-winning runner. No one in her family had ever run competitively. She put in the work and got results. And Coach Kinsey has been there throughout: as a mentor, as someone who fostered the awareness that Samara is defined by much more than running, and as someone who ensured Samara believes in herself. Without even knowing Kinsey, her high school coach told her Saint Mary’s would be dedicated to her. “And you know what?” Samara says. “He was absolutely right.”
“If any member of the team says, ‘Hey, we're not feeling good,’ Kinsey says, ‘OK, that’s fine. Tell me how you're doing. Do you need a doctor's appointment? Do you need a COVID test?’ No matter what, he's there.”
That’s true even when running hasn’t been the central focus for her. “This year for example, I've been more focused on academics, trying to finish up my senior year really strong, so I wasn't able to compete in cross country as much, but Kinsey supported me anyways,” Samara says. “If any member of the team says, ‘Hey, we're not feeling good,’ Kinsey says, ‘OK, that’s fine. Tell me how you're doing. Do you need a doctor's appointment? Do you need a COVID test?’ No matter what, he's there.”
It’s The People that Make the Place
Mariam Samara’s list of people who have helped her grow reaches across campus. Father Thomas McElligott was one of the first of these connections she made. “I distinctly remember my interview with Father Tom. We both ended up crying at the end of the night, because I told him my story,” Samara recounts. That would be the story about the school that wasn’t interested in her—but Saint Mary’s was.
Over the past several years, Associate Professor of Biology Jim Pesavento has nurtured Samara’s deep interest in science and medicine. That’s thanks to colleague Anthony Talo, whom Pesavento reached out to looking for Biology students interested in potential hands-on lab experience. Talo immediately connected them. Samara has since worked with Pesavento in the lab and outside of it.
In June 2022, Pesavento invited Samara to attend the annual American Society for Mass Spectrometry conference in Minneapolis. He believed that Samara would be a great fit, even though the conference is typically open only to graduate students. Samara saw first-hand what work in a professional lab would entail. She made dozens of connections with scientists and researchers, taking in presentations that ranged from groundbreaking research on cancer to early evidence of life on Mars. Following that, Samara spent the remainder of her summer working with Pesavento at his UC Berkeley lab, running experiments to find particular and specific molecules to answer different hypotheses. Those experiments sometimes ran weeks on end.
“The science didn’t work sometimes, and that’s OK,” Samara says. “You learn from it.”
Beyond courses and athletics, Samara participates in a wide variety of activities around campus—sometimes an exhausting number. That fact caused her to hesitate when she was considering applying to become a resident advisor. And she discussed those concerns with Jim Scuito ’00, EdD, who currently serves as interim Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students.
“I remember telling him, ‘I’m an athlete, I’m in pre-med, I have full time work … Do you think I could succeed as an RA? Is it an opportunity I should even take?’”
His answer: “‘You’re exactly who we need in this role to show students that they can do everything,’ he told me. ‘This school needs people like you in these positions.’”
Samara has now been a resident advisor for two years. Through that role she met Kami Grey, one of the Resident Directors for Aquinas Hall, who has logged over 20 years at SMC, and now someone Samara considers an important mentor and friend. Grey has advised Samara through unexpected crises, such as when three of the rooms on Samar’s floor flooded—just four months after she became an RA. More important, Samara has taken to heart lessons from Grey in building relationships and supporting others. “Kami is such a natural leader in her own way,” she says. “She knows everyone, and everyone knows her.” That inspired Samara to expand her reach outside of her own close circle, helping students transition into college, becoming a leader in her own way.
“That One-on-One Care”
The way Samara views the people and experiences she’s had at SMC is with a consistently grateful mindset. She also carries an awareness that there are others making a profound difference for fellow students. “It might be professors or faculty who work behind the scenes to make a door open for an underrepresented student,” she says, “so they can partake comfortably, which is especially important in a society that's not necessarily always adapting for them.”
Acknowledging what Saint Mary’s has done for her, both academically and personally, she moves into the next chapter of her life aiming to offer support to others, as a doctor. Following graduation in May, Samara plans on taking a gap year, working once again in a university lab and as a hospital scribe back home in Folsom, to prepare for the upcoming cycle of applying to medical school. She confesses that, of course, she's uncertain about the future.
“I feel really prepared. And I don't think I would have gotten that confidence at other places, because without that one-on-one care, I don't know if I would have even thought it was possible.”
“Will I be one of the only tens of thousands of women in medical care in the United States? Will I be the one person who can open the door and help the little girl who's scared about getting a shot by seeing someone who looks like her?” Samara asks herself. “I feel really prepared. And I don't think I would have gotten that confidence at other places, because without that one-on-one care, I don't know if I would have even thought it was possible.”
LEARN MORE about the School of Science Summer Research Program and how the Women's Cross Country and Track team helped SMC make history in the classroom.
Sam Nobile ’25 is studying English at Saint Mary’s and serves as a student writer with the Office of Marketing and Communications.