Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval welcomed 50 high-achieving California high school graduates to campus on Aug. 21 as the 28th cohort of President’s Honors Scholars in the Smittcamp Family Honors College.
The cohort includes Noah Anderson of Buchanan High in Clovis, who is a second-generation honors scholar. His mother, Dr. Sarah Anderson, a physical therapist, was part of the second cohort that enrolled at Fresno State in 2000. This is the first parent-child duo to be part of the honors college, said Dr. Saeed Attar, director of the Smittcamp Family Honors College.
“To be a Smittcamp scholar is to be part of a tight-knit community that is always there to encourage each other to grow academically and personally,” freshman Noah Anderson said. “The small class sizes in our honors courses and generous support from both the faculty and donors of the program have already given me opportunities I’m deeply grateful for.”
The honors college was established in 1998 with a $1 million gift from the late Earl and Muriel Smittcamp and continued to receive support from the Smittcamp family, the Fresno community and Smittcamp Family Honors College alumni.
This year’s class, which also includes Kimberly Osuna, Laton High’s first honors scholar, was selected from a pool of more than 500 applicants, Attar said. High school seniors must meet one of the following two criteria in order to be eligible to apply: they must have a minimum 3.8 GPA in grades 9 to 11, or be in the upper 10% of their graduating class.
Each scholar receives a President’s Honors Scholarship, up to a maximum of eight semesters, for their undergraduate degree program. Each scholarship, currently valued at $6,000 per academic year, also covers an optional credit for a standard room in university housing should a scholar choose to live on campus.
The Smittcamp Family Honors College is unique in the California State University system because President’s Scholars are admitted as a cohort, take a series of specially designed honors courses, participate in a weekly colloquium with guest speakers and discussions, and interact in educational, scholarly and social activities.
“Being surrounded by motivated and high-achieving students creates a uniquely supportive environment where I feel we all push each other to become greater and celebrate one another’s successes,” Anderson said. “I’m looking forward to building lasting relationships with my fellow scholars and continuing to learn alongside them at Fresno State.”
In addition, President’s Scholars are required to volunteer a minimum of 70 hours of community service during their four-year stay. During the 2025-26 academic year, scholars performed a total of 3,675 hours of community service to 43 organizations on and off campus. The economic impact of that service is about $153,457, according to the “2025-26 Economic Impact of Service on the Community” report published by Fresno State’s Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning.
To remain a member of the Smittcamp Family Honors College in good standing, a scholar must enroll in at least 12 units each semester and maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.25 in the first year, 3.35 the second year, and 3.5 the third and fourth years. Over 90% of the scholars graduate in four years, mostly with the highest distinction (summa cum laude, 3.9 to 4.0 GPA).
The 2026 President’s Scholars are:
- Noah Anderson (Buchanan High)
- Parya Attar (Clovis North High)
- Alyssa Blackmon (El Diamante High)
- Lucy Crary (Endeavor Charter)
- Stephanie De Leon (Buhach Colony High)
- Adam Deel (Clovis North High)
- Japleen Dhillon (Justin Garza High)
- Daniella Diaz (Clovis North High)
- Ian Eirich (Clovis High)
- Zoe Ekk (Sierra Pacific High)
- Selah El Issa (Sanger High)
- Kiana Eroh (Central East)
- Tyler Fernandez (Reedley High)
- Ava Garay (Granite Hills High)
- Briana Garcia (Fowler High)
- Enrique Garcia (Edison High)
- Amberly Gomez (Edison High)
- Gannon Gonzalez (Hanford High)
- Emely Gonzalez Valencia (Central Online Home School)
- Emmanuel Gutierrez (Kingsburg High)
- Chloe Hammet (University High)
- Sharndeep Kaur (Clovis East High)
- Sophie Kaur (University High)
- Krishnapriya Kishor (Sunnyside High)
- Brianna Lopez-Arevalo (Kerman High)
- Vicky Ly (University High)
- Leslie Madrid (Orange Cove High)
- Jovin Manjal (Clovis North High)
- Elise Mar (Clovis High)
- Brooklyn Medeiros (Fowler High)
- Lola Miranda (Edison High)
- Chanele Monisit (University High)
- Leslie Mora (Duncan Polytechnical High)
- Joseph Morales (Reedley Middle College High)
- Jaden Nevarez (Hoover High)
- Kimberly Osuna (Laton High)
- Janela Pechardo (Clovis High)
- Jimena Romero (Sanger High)
- Alex Rosa (Firebaugh High)
- Keira Rose (Sierra High)
- Bhumika Saini (Justin Garza High)
- Emily Santoro (Paso Robles High)
- Simone Sekhon (Clovis North High)
- Gurmanat Sohi (Clovis East High)
- Mallory Topoozian (Bullard High)
- Brenda Walker (Corcoran High)
- Nalaya Whitty (Roosevelt High)
- Matthew Wong (Clovis North High)
- Eva Yang (Clovis East High)
- Riley Yost (Fresno Adventist Academy)
