From an EAH Housing Community to Aerospace Engineering: Haron Samhan's Story

For Haron Samhan, home has always been an EAH Housing community in the Bay Area, where his family has lived for more than two decades. His parents immigrated from Egypt in search of opportunity and stability, and found in EAH Housing a foundation stable enough to raise three children in a strong school system, something Haron says would have been nearly impossible without it.

Haron's parents emphasized education and discipline early on, sometimes literally: his mother began asking around about college scholarships for him while he was still in middle school, which is how the family first learned about the EAH Rebecca W. Watkin Scholarship program.

By high school, Haron had found his path. A lifelong love of math and science, sharpened during the uncertainty of the COVID years, pointed him toward engineering, and aerospace engineering in particular felt like an answer to every question he found interesting. He enrolled at the University of Southern California, and the EAH scholarship followed him there, easing the financial pressure on his family and letting him focus fully on his coursework instead of worrying about tuition.

The scholarship's reach extended past the classroom. Through its network, Haron connected with a manufacturing engineering internship, a step toward the aerospace career he's building today.

Two weeks before sharing his story publicly, Haron graduated from USC with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, one of three siblings in his family to become scholarship recipients. His brother recently graduated from law school, and his sister is now a first year student at UCLA.

"When I think about having a successful future, I relate it to having a prosperous past as well," Haron said. Looking back, he sees his own success rooted in the community and programs that supported him from the start, and hopes one day to give back to both.
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"Thank you all for your support, your generosity, and for making stories like mine possible."*