This week's Student of the Week is Samson G.
First of all, I gotta say: AWESOME photo SG!! Love the lighting. The expression on your face (a rare Samson "Almost-Smile"!!). Even the water looks good (it is water, right?). But can you photoshop out the dude behind you? He's infringing on your coolness. Look how he's TRYING with those shades. Nope - not even close to as cool as Mr Gama!!
Samson will forever be known at KG as one of the two ultimate computer gurus of all time (the other being Albert). These two basically ran the school while they were in grade 11 and 12. If you wanted ANYTHING done regarding computers / websites / technology / etc. you did not waste time talking to administration, VSB staff, etc. You went straight to Albert and Samson. After they left, the KG staff was honestly SCARED what would happen ("the computers are all going to crash!!"!! "Who will fix my stuff!!!" etc).
Samson was a very strong Math student. And good thing when you consider what he's done since leaving KG:
"In second year, I chose to major in Electrical and Computer Engineering and it may have been the best decision of my life (so far). I really, really liked Electrical and Computer Engineering. Sure some of the courses such as Circuit Analysis and Differential Equations were dry and boring, but they had some REALLY cool applications. What I learned in class could be applied into projects such as applications that use math to write algorithms that basically allow us to write the backbone of facebook, build a robot from scratch which follows a electromagnetic field, make arcade games, build heartrate monitors and so much more.
I'm omitting the part where I probably lost a lot of sleep to complete these projects but I would be lying if I said I did not have fun while completing them. Also, the hard work paid off this time around. This year is where I dropped my aspirations to go to Medical School as it really isn't as cool as Engineering. Some bias there, but everyone probably knows that."
Impressive! But hardly surprising. Samson always had big aspirations, a lot of ability, and never lacked for confidence. I remember once, for instance, when Samson decided to run a cross country race. On the way there he was telling me that his goal was top 10 (or something like that). I was trying to dissuade him from such lofty expectations ("some of these guys are freaks!") but he wasn't having it. "You watch, Mr Wadge!". Love the self-confidence SG but (if memory serves me right) you finished a little out of the top 10. I'll never forget the shock and disappointment on your face when you crossed the finish line. It was... if you'll excuse the word... pretty cute.
And Samson's confidence lives on (as does his friendship with Albert!):
"Anyway, I'm in third year now and there aren't many life lessons to share from this year yet, but I will be going on exchange next year to Europe. Albert and I will be attending ETH Zurich, a top 10 school in Engineering, and we are really excited for the experience. We decided since it's such a prestigious school, that we should do it since it's a once in a lifetime opportunity."
Wow! That takes some serious nerve (and some serious smarts) to even apply to such a place. Really proud of you Samson! I will always remember how willing you were to share your time (and your expertise) with other people at KG (and at the elementary schools too). I may be wrong, but you always seemed to be proud of our little school and wanted to do what you could to make it even better. I'm so happy that you have found what you love. Keep up the great work. You are making all of us Math (ok, and Science) teachers at KG look very very good!
Miss you Samson!
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