As senior Sami Russell looks towards college, her two main passions will come with her into the next chapter of her life: psychiatry and art. Through her experiences growing up and through classes at FHC, her love for art has grown immensely, mainly through the community and her teachers, as well as her interest in psychology. Sami has always known that she wanted to help people in her job, so she was drawn towards becoming a psychiatrist.
“I feel like [my two interests are] very different,” Sami said. “I think art is a personal thing for me, and then psychiatry would be more of helping other people. So I think [doing both is] [a good way to] get both aspects.”
Art has always been a constant for Sami. From elementary school to AP Art, Sami’s love and passion for the skill has always been there and is actively growing. It is very calming for her, as there are many different types of art she can choose from. Sami’s favorite part of doing art is that you can always experiment with trying different things.
“There are a lot of good things you can do, you can do painting, drawing. There’s a lot of variety with it,” Sami said. “You can just do something new whenever you want. It has a lot of variety with different mediums.”
Sami’s connection with art is very important and special to her. Her journey began in elementary school, when art was a required class. The factor that kept her enjoying taking art is the teachers; she has had amazing art teachers each year who encouraged her to keep going and grow her passion. Her teachers knew that Sami wanted to continue doing art and get better at it, so they have been a very important part of her journey, helping her progress to the next level.
“I probably would say [one of the reasons I love art is because] I’ve had really good art teachers, and they’ve spent more time with me,” Sami said. “They know I’m very serious about it.”
Another unique part of the art class is the community. Sami is very encouraged by her environment to embrace her passion for art. In AP Art, she is surrounded by talented artists, and most of them want to incorporate art into their careers in some way.
“A lot of people want to pursue art, and a lot of people like it,” Sami said. “In general, [the community is] very big, but also you can find people who [use] the same medium and everything. So you can definitely create connections like that.”
There are a few people who are very helpful in Sami’s life with art and her personal life. Her parents are a big influence in her life, and lots of her traits are impacted by them. However, the main person who has been very influential in her journey with art is one of the FHC art teachers, Mrs. Funnell. She has helped Sami in so many ways that affect her today, even though Mrs. Funnell is not her current art teacher.
“[Mrs. Funnell] is probably the reason I still love art. I love her. I had the greatest connection with her; she helped me with [the college application process]. I feel like she’s given me stuff to take home and everything. But I feel like she’s definitely who I’d say is my favorite art teacher, especially [at FHC].”
As Sami looks forward to college, she has always wanted to help people within her job, so she decided to focus on psychology rather than art. More specifically, she wanted to take the more medical route and become a psychiatrist through med school. Sami is looking at colleges, most likely in-state, but hopes some accept her out-of-state. Although she is looking to pursue a career in psychiatry, she still wants to continue with art in some way. Overall, Sami has found a very special connection with art, as she has had an amazing experience with it throughout all of her school years. The community and the FHC art teachers have helped her become who she is today.
“When I was younger, I knew I wanted to help people. Four years ago, I knew I wanted to do something in the psychology field, but I didn’t know what,” Sami said. “Then I did some research on more specific stuff in the field, and I knew that I really wanted to be a psychiatrist.”
