In a Sept. 23 ceremony at South Hall, UC Santa Barbara officially welcomed 25 first year and one transfer student to its 2026 PROPEL 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. The diverse group of young scholars hails from towns across California including (to name quite a few) Santa Ana, Santa Maria, Sacramento, Modesto, Oakland, South Central Los Angeles, Etiwanda, Castaic, Cypress, Bakersfield, Lancaster, Huntington Park, Burbank, Beaverton, North Hollywood, and Thousand Oaks.
At the ceremony, the cohort learned about resources that are available to them from Mina Toxtle, a representative of UCSB's Basic Needs office, and received an overview of the program and its requirements and benefits from PROPEL Program Director Bryan Zuniga, himself a former Promise scholar. "Every new PROPEL cohort brings a renewed sense of energy and possibility to our community, and welcoming our sixth cohort to UCSB was no exception," Zuniga said. "Seeing these students meet one another, connect with our returning scholars and begin imagining what their time at UCSB can look like was incredibly exciting. We are thrilled to welcome our newest scholars and look forward to supporting them as they grow, challenge themselves and make their mark at UCSB.”
PROPEL's 2026 Scholars are:
Julissa Beltran, Mary Castillo, Avery Stansbury, Belen Perez, Arielle Green, Maily Tran, Camila Vaca, Caleb Yokley, Andrea Garcia, Jiovanna Garcia, John Gikonyo, Mia Aguilera, Bryan Argueta Cruz, Ezequiel Teyul, Daniel De Santiago, Monse Gutierrez, Grace Mendiola, Alex Sanchez Galvan, Keiry Sandoval, Emma Sanchez, Naomi Bayarjavhlan, Amber Kaur, Persiah Martin, Jeffrey Krasnoff, Nelson Dominguez Martinez, Hailey Aurriena-Jo Torres, and Jimmy Unzueta.