FORT WORTH, TX - After receiving more than $700,000 in scholarship offers, and acceptances to all ten colleges she applied to, ILTexas Senior Samantha Victoria has committed to Knox College in Chicago on an athletics scholarship where she will have the opportunity to combine her two passions: animals and soccer. 

“I have a lot of pets at home so I love to help them,” she said. “I've volunteered at animal shelters and so helping the animals there just really touches my heart.” 

In addition to caring for animals, Victoria has spent most of her middle and high school years playing soccer with the ILTexas Keller K-8 and Keller-Saginaw High School teams, and currently serves as a team captain.

“Soccer is a great environment to grow from, and it helps me develop my character on and off the field and take it into the classroom as well,” she said.

Victoria plans to study biology at Knox College with the goal of becoming a veterinarian or zoologist. 

^{ILTexas KSHS senior Samantha Victoria. Courtesy photos.}

She thanked her Academic Success Program (ASP) advisor, Alexandra Clayton, for helping her through the college application process. 

“She would kind of do her own research on you, so she'll help you find a school that's best for you and even suggest schools that you should go to,” Victoria said. As for ASP itself, Victoria is grateful for the guidance it provided during her senior year.

“ASP kind of just feels like such a welcoming environment and like a place where I can just be myself and know that this is the right place where I know where I can build my future from.”

Victoria, who has been with ILTexas since the opening of the Keller K-8 campus in 2014, reflected on the values she learned during her time at the charter. 

“[What] I've learned from ILTexas is to finish what I start,” she said. “I believe in college that it'll really help me get through my classwork or help me get through soccer, and I think that's a strong motto to go by, even in life.”

As university acceptances begin to come in, ILTexas will proudly share more stories of our 2022 graduates and the exceptional higher education opportunities that they have earned. Explore ILTexas.org to learn more about how your student can have these same opportunities.