Hobbies and interests
Art
Volleyball
Cooking
Fishing
Hiking And Backpacking
Agriculture
Anime
Animals
Reading
Adventure
Art
Cultural
Education
Gardening
Psychology
Action
Crafts
Health
Humor
Mystery
Social Issues
I read books daily
Samantha Russell-Davis
1,645
Bold Points1x
FinalistSamantha Russell-Davis
1,645
Bold Points1x
FinalistBio
Hello! My name is Samantha I am originally from Vermont I live in the town of Enosburg Falls. Some of my hobbies would be hiking, hunting, camping, and art. My majors are psychology as well as art. I am a home health worker through ARIS solutions and have worked in this field for two years and am going to school for my BA in PSY and a minor or associate in art to work in social services. I am a full-time first-year college student as well as a fist generation college student from a low-income family. My goal is to make a better community and help people with special needs live a better quality of life I want to use my degrees to help others and start an art therapy program for my community as I have a huge love for working with people of all ages live a happy healthy life.
Education
Northern Vermont University-Johnson
Bachelor's degree programMajors:
- Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology
Minors:
- Fine and Studio Arts
Miscellaneous
Desired degree level:
Master's degree program
Graduate schools of interest:
Transfer schools of interest:
Majors of interest:
Career
Dream career field:
social service
Dream career goals:
Work with disabled clients take them to do there shopping and do daily activities or help with home life
ARIS Solutions2020 – 20222 yearsCashier
Jolley2019 – 20223 years
Sports
Track & Field
Varsity2017 – 2017
Public services
Volunteering
Johnson town beautification project — Clean up litter and plant healthy non invasive plants for the environment and weed public places and benches2022 – 2022Volunteering
Northern Vermont University — Weeding and planting produce and flowers2019 – 2019Volunteering
Martha's kitchen — Cook and prep food2018 – 2018
Future Interests
Advocacy
Volunteering
John D. Sherman Scholarship
Growing up as a kid was hard for me. I was born early, so growing up I was different than everyone else; I was three months early weighing two pounds and eleven ounces with a hearing disability and I had problems with my eyesight as I got older.
Struggles and differences were challenging for me when I was growing causing me to not do well in elementary school. People would always tell me I could not get smarter, and that I will never do better. I only had a few people I could count on; one was my mom. When I went to the doctor's for my hearing test, I did horribly. They looked my mom in the eyes and told her that I would probably never read a chapter book due to my hearing. I was born without parts of my ear, meaning that high-pitched noises would bother me more than others because I could hear them at a greater volume. Another downside of my hearing is softer noises I can not hear at all. When I was younger that made everyday life a challenge and some time still today; I have a hard time hearing people and I have to read their lips.
This did not stop me, thanks to my mom. She helped me when I was little; she'd sit with me and help me read a chapter book, showed me new ways to work around my hearing, and told me it was okay to be different than everyone else. And just because my grades weren't the best, didn't mean I wasn’t working hard. I had to work twice as hard as someone with normal hearing. Slowly, I progressed with reading and was able to improve and catch up to my class. That is when I hit another bump in the road. I started to get a lazy eye on both eyes. I slowly progressed until I reached the point when I needed to have double eye surgery because I couldn't read the paper in front of me and everything looked fuzzy. This leads me to have corrective surgery at the age of seven.
After all of these struggles is when I hit the top of the incline in my life as a kid I was able to see well again. I understood why I couldn't hear well and found ways to work around it by recording what the teacher said in class, which I could listen to at home to help me understand the homework. I slowly was progressing in my grades and my reading. Now today I’m in a 1st generation college preparatory program. I am reading at a college-level and have supportive people surrounding me. We are all working to help each other so that everyone is able to go to college. No one points out that someone is different or that they are at a different academic level. Everyone here knows that it is okay to be different, and I want to spread this thinking to everyone that I meet.
I think that I have worked hard to get where I am and have overcome many bumps in the road. I love myself and will continue to work hard no matter how many things try to stop me. When attending college, I will overcome my challenges. I will also continue to learn from new situations I encounter along the way. I want to spread my message of resilience and perseverance to others. It is okay to be different; just know you can persevere through challenges and succeed if you believe in yourself.