Meet Our Scholars
Sammie Zenoz
Miami Dade College
English
She/Her/Hers
Community College
Donald Cummins Scholarship Recipient
Sammie Zenoz is an English major with a passion for creative writing. Growing up, she was bullied for being different and never fit in. Though she never graduated high school, she challenged herself to get her G.E.D. She applied for community college but flunked out of her first year. Discouraged, she found work as a waitress and let years pass before she tried again. Sammie came out as a lesbian to her family at the age of 25 after she met her girlfriend. It was as though she was discovering this critical piece of herself she never knew was missing. Determined to change, she worked harder, pursuing a degree in biology. She excelled for a few semesters but eventually found the classes too difficult to pass. After failing her first class since her return, she decided to take the summer off. At a crossroads, Sammie registered for a creative writing class and unwittingly changed her future. Her English professors quickly recognized her potential and begged her to switch her major to English. She is now Co-Editor-In-Chief of Urbana Literary Arts Magazine. She is published in Urbana Volume 11 and is best known for her work as a lesbian nonfiction author. Sammie founded Miami Writers Society to help other writers find their voice, and she aspires to be a celebrated novelist, hoping to one day share her coming out story with the world, creating a platform for others like her to stand proudly.