I Am Consequential: MSE's Samuel Budagher
In the span of four days, Sam Budagher lost everything.
He lost his Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarship.
He lost his position on the wrestling team.
And he lost his maternal grandmother.
That could have been the end of his college years at Purdue University. And it almost was. After all, he was only in his first year.
Budagher considered going back to his home state of New Mexico. Instead, the materials engineering student is now in his third year at Purdue.
Born and raised in Albuquerque into a family of steel- and iron-workers, Budagher grew up with strong role models like his great grandfather, who left Lebanon to settle in New Mexico. Growing up, Budagher’s father ran his own company building cellphone towers and traveling to support him and his older brother. His father wanted him to go to college and study engineering.
Budagher could have played it safe, stayed in New Mexico and studied there, but an ROTC scholarship and a chance at competing in a Division 1 wrestling program helped him pick Purdue University.
“I wanted to go out of state because I thought it would be good,” he said. “It’s important to put yourself out of your comfort zone. It’s usually how you improve yourself.”
Budagher was settling into life at Purdue University when his life was upended. Because of a medical condition, Budagher lost his full ride to Purdue and he was cut from the wrestling team. Then, his grandmother passed.
Shortly after, Budagher went to see his honors mentor, Isabelle Diaz. “She could tell things weren’t going well,” he said.
But Budagher reached out for help. His teachers were responsive, and he found resources like the Minority Engineering Program at Purdue to keep going.
“I’m always looking for the opportunity in things,” he said. “The important thing is to keep an open mind because you never know what might be a life-changing thing you come by.”
Though he could have returned home, Budagher’s parents encouraged him to stay at Purdue. His mother found a job to help pay for his studies.
Since 2023, Budagher has been interning at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, where he works in a hybrid role in photometrics while he’s in school and then returns for the summer. He also got back into his favorite sport by volunteering as a high school wrestling coach in both his hometown and West Lafayette.
He plans to apply to the 4+1 program so he can pursue his master’s at Purdue after completing his bachelor’s.
Despite the challenges he’s faced, Budagher says he embodies Purdue’s grit.
“Find a solution, not a problem,” Budagher said. “Purdue does a great job of giving you that problem-solving mindset.”