Southwestern senior Samantha Lingamfelter is one of three students selected statewide to receive a scholarship from the Texas Association of School Personnel Administrators (TASPA) for the 2009-2010 school year. The scholarship will be presented at the organization’s annual awards luncheon at the DoubleTree Hotel in Austin Dec. 10.

The scholarship honors the best teacher candidates in the state. TASPA represents the recruiting/human resources staff of 340 state school districts.

Lingamfelter will be graduating next May with a double major in math and Spanish. She would like to teach high school math, and eventually Spanish as well.

The daughter of a teacher, Lingamfelter credits her middle school math teacher and high school calculus teacher as the ultimate inspirations for also pursuing a teaching career. 

At Southwestern, Lingamfelter has held leadership roles in Sigma Delta Pi (national Spanish honor society), Kappa Delta Pi (national education honor society), Pi Mu Epsilon (national mathematics honor society) and Sigma Phi Lambda, a Christian women’s social sorority. She also is captain of the volleyball team and was named Honorable Mention All-American in 2007 and 2008.

This is the 10th year in a row that a student in Southwestern University’s Teacher Certification Program has received a TASPA scholarship.