Izzy Harris
Equinox Staff
With only 24 hours in a day, Keene State College Senior Samantha Sullivan makes the most of every minute of it.
Sullivan is currently the president of Social Activities Council, student teaches in Brattleboro, is a member of the Math Club, Math Honor Society, Student Athlete Honor Society and is also a captain of the lacrosse team.
On top of all of this, Sullivan is able to maintain a 4.0 GPA.
“I only had certain windows that I could really do my work, and that made me more focused and on task,” said Sullivan.
Sullivan said a typical day in the life for her is waking up at 6:30 a.m. to leave for student teaching at 7:30 a.m., leaving Brattleboro to come back to Keene at 4:30 p.m. or later, and then heading back to lacrosse practice from 6-8 p.m.
“I have lacrosse Monday through Friday and then on Saturdays too, so my day off is Sunday,” Sullivan said.
Katie Clark is the head Women’s Lacrosse Coach at KSC. “She’s a very hardworking player. She has great leadership ability, it’s kind of the person she is. She does a great job of leading by example,” said Clark.
“She works hard, she keeps a good attitude, [has a] light hearted sense of humour, she can balance it all and still focus on what she’s at task with,” Clark said.
“I want her to have a good season and for her to feel like she left it all on the field,” said Clark.
Vincent Ferlini is a Mathematics Professor here at Keene State, and is also Sullivan’s advisor.
“I’m talking from the perspective of her mathematics instructor, I’ve had [her] for two classes, in both classes she was the best student. [She] worked very hard, [and] achieved the best performance in both classes. She takes a lot of pride in presenting her work accurately and clearly too,” Ferlini said.
Ferlini said Sullivan is, “Friendly, very personable, very upbeat, with a nice ability to connect with high school kids, her peers, and her professors. She’s very comfortable in all those settings.”
“I can use her as an example as somebody who has taken advantage of a lot of the opportunities at Keene State, and has gone out into the world very well qualified for what she wants to do,” said Ferlini.
When Sullivan graduates college she said she wants to, “…be a high school math teacher, because I want to help change kids’ attitudes against math so they can be successful individuals.”
Sullivan said, “Math is a subject that teaches so many transferable skills like hard work, attention to detail, and perseverance—not just numbers. There are also so many opportunities to travel and explore through teaching.”
Ferlini said, “In spite of all these pressures, she’s managed to get things done, and get them done in a superb manner. She’s maintained in excellence in spite of all this work, she’s still Samantha.”
“She’s going to touch a lot of people’s lives, just by being herself. I hope she realizes she’s going to do that, and she’s an important person to have in kids’ lives these days,” said Clark.
Izzy Harris can be contacted at
iharris@kscequinox.com
