Sam Moreno

A Bit About Sam

Samantha Haylee Moreno (Sam), is a freshman at UC Berkeley. Originally from Victorville, CA, Sam now resides in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, in San Bernardino County.

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On May 6, 2021, Sam's 501(c)(3) status for "Thundar, Lightning & Peace" (ThundarLP) was approved by both the Secretary of State and the Department of the Treasury-Internal Revenue Service.

Despite facing mental and physical challenges early on in life, including illnesses and bullying, Sam's past battles have driven her passion for helping those in need. Her primary focus is on assisting military veterans. She has honed her networking skills to gather resources and partner with mentors in the field to be ready to help veterans as needed.

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The name "ThundarLP" reflects Sam's personal experiences. During a year of excruciating pain at age 13, the Paws with Love program at Kaiser brought "Goldendoodles" dogs to comfort patients, providing the relief Sam needed. She later received her own Goldendoodle, whom she named "THUNDAR" (misspelled purposely). The word LIGHTNING represents the unexpected harsh strikes in Sam's life, which molded her to be courageous and resilient. Ultimately, the word PEACE describes the place she is in now, and she hopes to bring comfort and peace to deserving military veterans through her work.

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Sam's long-term aspiration is to become an Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon in a VA Hospital and provide veterans with the quality healthcare they deserve. She is ambitiously challenging herself with Honor/AP courses, night classes in the medical field, working two jobs, and community volunteering (over 1000 hours), all while managing and balancing speaking engagements with ThundarLP.