Samo senior secures several selective scholarships

On April 11, Samo student Danny Chmaytelli ('23) was among 30 high school seniors to receive the Edison STEM Scholarship. Chmaytelli also received the $40,000 Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship and he plans to attend UCLA in the fall with a full-ride scholarship. Chymatelli has won awards including Junior Male Student of the Year, National Merit Scholar Finalist and top three in the NASA JPL Science Bowl Regionals. M House Advisor Maribel Pulido has had a profound influence on Chmaytelli's high school experience. Pulido describes him as a passionate, driven student who has grown a lot over his years at Samo.

"I have seen an increase of self-awareness, confidence, and willingness to step out of his comfort zone," Pulido said. "I am so proud of him and I look forward to his future accomplishments."

Read Chymatelli's interview below.

- What scholarship(s) have you received? What do you plan on using it/them for?

I received the $50,000 SoCal Edison STEM Scholarship, which is awarded to 30 students out of 500 applications. I was also among 400 students out of 4,000 applicants nationwide to earn the $40,000 Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship. I plan to use these scholarships to fulfill education-related expenses in college, as well as pay for housing during my in-person NASA internship. 

- What classes, school activities and/or extracurriculars are you involved in? What are some things you did throughout high school to get where you are now? 

I am a lab researcher within a UCLA aerospace engineering lab called the Nanoscale Transport Research Group. I interned at a software engineering company for two years and I run my own rapid prototyping business. I am also president of the Novice Engineering Club and captain of the Science Bowl team. Additionally, I will be doing a paid, in-person internship at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland this summer.  

I took three AP Classes in my sophomore year and five AP Classes in junior year. I will have also taken seven SMC Classes by the end of this year. I also did a summer program at UC Santa Cruz specializing in electrical engineering. 

- When did you find out that you won the scholarship? What were your thoughts and feelings upon finding out?

My dad, my counselor Ms. Pulido, my college counselor Ms. Mejia and the principal surprised me with the big check in the College Center. Ms. Mejia actually pulled me out of my engineering class and walked me over to the college center; she had told me she just wanted to chat about some college-related stuff. But when I walked into the college center, my dad, counselor, all three college counselors, principal and other administrators surprised me with balloons and music! It was such an amazing surprise and I was so incredibly grateful for all of the help I had received from dad, counselor and college counselor over the last four years. Honestly, it was also a big relief because college is expensive. 

- What are your hopes for college and your future career?

I was admitted to UCLA on a full-ride Regents scholarship — awarded to the top 127 applicants out of 150,000 applications. It is the most prestigious scholarship offered by UCLA, so I was so elated when I received it! It comes with amazing perks like priority enrollment, priority housing and parking. I will be majoring in aerospace engineering, so UCLA is really good because Los Angeles is the global capital of the aerospace industry. My dream job is to work for SpaceX, so going to UCLA would be really convenient because SpaceX has a plant in Hawthorne and likes to recruit from UCLA. I really want to work for SpaceX because they are the most innovative player in the space industry. Personally, I don't think there's anything cooler than working to expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity, and I would be so excited to be a part of the team that will colonize Mars!

- Do you have a favorite Samohi teacher who has had an impact on you?

I would like to express my gratitude towards Mr. Gaida, my Science Bowl Coach and AP Biology teacher in my sophomore year, as well as Ms. Pulido, my counselor. As my Science Bowl coach, Mr. Gaida helped me learn so much college-level physics over the last four years and was instrumental in helping our team place in the top three at the NASA JPL Regional Science Bowl three times! All of the concepts and theories Mr. Gaida helped me grasp enabled me to get a lot of my internships because I was able to show my strong physics background. I would also like to thank Ms. Pulido for supporting me over the last four years. Sometimes I had the weirdest schedule requests but she always made it work. She also has such a good positive energy and I always feel heard and appreciated whenever I talk to her. I know that whenever I feel stressed out or just want to talk in general, Ms. Pulido will always be available to support me.

- Do you have any tips for juniors and underclassmen who are starting to work towards receiving scholarships?

Take initiative! There are so many amazing opportunities out there that can be accessed by high schoolers. Sometimes it's as easy as a google search. And for my internships at UCLA and at the software engineering company, all I had to do was email the hiring managers detailing my interest and they gave me the position pretty quickly. With NASA, it took a ton of effort to earn two paid in-person summer internship offers. Only college sophomores or above were technically eligible for the positions and NASA receives hundreds of applications per opening. I had to reach out directly to the hiring managers and convince them to make an exception for me. Moral of the story: don't be afraid to email people, they will respect your initiative and tenacity and try to help you.