You may have seen her running from meeting to meeting and back again. You may have sat in front of her in any number of meetings. Some of you may even be in her classes. But no matter where you know her from, Samantha Moul is everywhere. And as USGA president, she has to be everywhere and represent everyone.
Sam hails from North Attleboro, Massachusetts and is a proud New England Patriots fan. As a senior, Sam is looking forward to finishing up her psychology degree with a concentration in forensic psychology.
As a freshman, Sam was extremely nervous to be in college. She was a first generation college student and wasn’t sure what to expect living away from home. Luckily, she blossomed as she became active on the track and field team. “That tight-knit community of athletes really helped me transition” she mentioned. Though she is no longer on the team because of an incredibly busy schedule, she attributes a lot of her growth to her freshman year in athletics.
Sam’s experience with USGA started her first semester of sophomore year. She was a member of the Honors Student Council and volunteered to be the representative every week. She became fascinated by the workings of student government and was eager to get more involved.
“As the representative for Delta Phi Epsilon, I watched the elections process for my Junior year and got to know James Kielar, my predecessor, a little bit better” Sam said. This was the beginning of something knew for her. When James announced that he needed people to apply for E-board, Sam applied for executive assistant. To her surprise, she was appointed to the position and served for the entire 2015-2016 school year.
This position helped Sam grow and eventually consider running for president. “Never in a million years did I consider myself powerful enough for that position, but I had people that believed in me”
Since starting on July 1, time has flown by for Sam. From the involvement fair, to her first meeting, she and her E-board have grown tremendously. She has learned that making mistakes is natural and that life itself is about learning. But what plans does Sam have for the future?
“I really think I want my largest impact to be unifying the student body” Sam stated. She explained that meeting all different types of people from athletes to Veterans have strengthened her passion of unifying people. “I want this university to pride itself not just on experiential education in our academic fields, but also to encourage students to experience life during their four years here.”
Campus Climate Coalition has quickly become one of Sam’s favorite parts of the university. Through this, people of all different backgrounds come together to make the campus a more unified and inclusive setting. She mentions how important it is for students to be accepting and understanding of all races, genders, religions, sexualities, etc. in order to create a safe environment. “Meeting people of every creed and culture, having experienced social injustice and biases, and watching far too much of our media be consumed by hatred has given me an incredible desire to join the fight for social justice for all people.” This is an issue that Sam feels strongly about and wants to continue addressing during her time as president.
Looking back on her time at UNH, Sam is proud of her accomplishments. Just last year, she was a John D. Hatfield Scholar with the honors program which allowed her to intern with a children’s psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island. But her biggest accomplishment is being in college and growing as an individual. “I have changed drastically from the extremely quiet and timid girl that I first stepped on to campus as in 2013, and I could not be more proud of my accomplishments” Sam said.
After her commencement speech and walking across the graduation stage this upcoming May, Sam hopes to continue her education. She dreams of obtaining her Ph.D in either Clinical Forensic Psychology or Criminology. Her dream is to study overseas in the United Kingdom and experience the rigor and culture of the courses in a different country.
No matter what, Sam will leave her legacy on this campus. She also has a message to the class of 2020, and it’s the same message that she gives herself every day. “You miss every shot you don’t take. Don’t be afraid to take chances, meet new people, and reach out to different organizations on campus. Never believe that any opportunity is too far out of reach because it only takes one shot to change the game”.
Who knows? Maybe one day you will be in Sam’s shoes.