Where is She Now?

In 2015, Wayzata High School senior Samantha Lee was awarded an academic scholarship by what was then the Minnesota Women's Golf Association Scholarship Foundation (now the Minnesota Golf Foundation Women's Scholarship). Lee, from Plymouth, used the scholarship funds to assist in her post-secondary education at the University of Minnesota. Now, nearly 10 years later, Lee has made the most of her opportunity.

Lee started playing golf during high school (after realizing her height would eventually short-circuit her hoop dreams) and worked furiously to catch up in her new sport. She eventually made varsity, highlighted by a seventh-place finish in the MSHSL State Tournament her senior year.

“I'm a very logical thinker and being able to take a scientific approach to my golf game was critical to unlocking my understanding of golf,” Lee says. “Being able to think about my game as a game of numbers, even adding and subtracting yards to my clubs due to wind, became a much more straightforward way of improving my game.”

Lee's mental approach not only helped in golf but set up her ultimate career, which began when her parents forwarded her an email detailing the women's golf scholarship.

“Because of the scholarship, I was able to spend a lot of my time in college focusing on school, research and getting involved in organizations that I was passionate about because of their direct impact on the community,” Lee says.

That included authoring two publications, volunteering for Be the Match (signing up thousands of students for the National Marrow Donor Registry) and Girls Who Code, running an after-school club for girls in grades 4-8 and teaching them how to code.