A Feature on North Hills’ Samantha Smith

“Good Morning North Hills! This has been Samantha Smith with the Tribe Daily.”  Is something we hear on the morning announcements almost every day. We got the chance to interview the infamous Samantha Smith! 

Here at North Hills, Sam Smith is a household name. Not only is she the Editor in Chief for the Arrowhead, she’s a majorette in the marching band, plays the trumpet in the Wind Symphony, takes place on an outside of school cheer team, and finds the time for her after school job at BJ Wholesale Club. With someone who has been in Journalism for the past 4 years some of us might wonder what encouraged her to keep up with it. We are here to tell you the inside scoop on Sam! 

Although most freshmen aren’t allowed, Sam squeezed her way into Journalism 1. Sam shared with us that they messed up her schedule. She says, “They were going to take me out and I pretty much begged them to keep me in the class”. She goes on to tell us about how Jacob Rodney took her under his wing, and together they were unstoppable. Since Sam has been in journalism for so long, she has made many heartfelt memories. As many of you may know we were introduced to Word on the Street in spring of 2021. Sam played a very important role in the creation of the show with Jacob Rodney by her side. She says, “doing Word on the Street helped me loosen up and feel more comfortable talking with random people.” She continues to talk about how beneficial this will be for her future career. “I didn’t do all of these years of journalism for nothing”, she said. She has written countless articles and helped produce many issues over the years. Sam says her favorite article has to be the Spooky Issue in 2022. “This was the first article I was editor in chief for… it was an amazing learning opportunity since I just kind of got thrown into it.” She talks about how before this article she never did layout and this gave her the chance to learn it all herself. As a favorite issue also comes a favorite article, asking Sam her favorite article has a non hesitant response “I wrote an article my freshman year about the 6th grade classes moving to middle school. It was an opportunity for me to ask the parents and faculty how they felt about it….I’d say it was my favorite article due to the fact I had a large responsibility and got the chance to learn and experience how to ask the public for information”. Samantha told us that she called many parents and that it was stressful but felt accomplished. She also let us know that the article was never published due to Covid but is on the website. As covid took a big part during Sam’s time in journalism we asked her if there were any topics she wished she got to cover and said “I wish I got to cover more of the at home life people had to adapt to” Sam thought that covid was a great opportunity to get stories out of. 

Sam has had an interest in Journalism and the idea of being a TV reporter since she was a kid. Perhaps this is inspired by her dad, a photojournalist for KDKA. She says “I have always loved the news… even when we were in elementary school I would wake up extra early just so I had time to watch it every morning.” Sam hopes to make a career as a TV reporter one day or even go as far as having her own show. She says, “No matter what I do, I know I want to be in the spotlight”. I’m sure this doesn’t come to a surprise to many as Sam has been in the spotlight for most of her highschool career. Whether it’s the morning announcements, Word on the Street, or a new addition to the arrowhead, we always see Sam’s name. Sam being editor in chief, has a lot of responsibility and not many know what the role means so we asked her and she let us know, “you revise everyone’s work and plan how each issue of the arrowhead is going to play out” she also let us know that it’s incredibly fun and makes her feel important. Sam strongly looked up to her older peers as a reason to continue journalism, we asked Sam what her encouragement was and she told us “ Jacob Rodney and Hannah Zepenfeld who graduated became my friends through journalism and if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t feel a special spark to it, they gave me the fun and enjoyable memories to keep going after they left”. Sam shares that she enjoys getting to be in the spotlight and it’s always something to look forward to. Our final question for Sam to end our conversation was asking her why she would encourage underclassman to take Journalism…”I strongly recommend it to anyone, it’s a great class to improve your writing skills and get to see what opportunities it brings for you” Sam is very passionate about journalism and shares that she’ll miss it alot. 

Samantha Smith, a one of a kind North Hills student will continue her journey in broadcast journalism at West Virginia University in the fall of 2023. Samantha will definitely be missed by her underclassman friends and NHTV/Arrowhead will not be the same without her.