Student Humanitarian Walks AHS Halls
Sammi Fuller, Senior, spent this past summer in Fiji with Rustic Pathways volunteering and helping native children, while throughout the year, she continues to lead Unified Raiders, doing it all just fulfill her passion of helping others.
The program’s mission is to give students once-in-a-lifetime experiences by exploring different cultures and serving different communities as worldly citizens. She returned with a new perspective of appreciation, but also realized how she wants to apply it to make the world a better place using compassion.
“[Rustic Pathways] taught a lesson on hardship and struggle. [The volunteers] read them The Little Engine That Could, and we had them take a piece of paper and write about a time that they struggled. And it was really cool to see that even though there was such a big culture barrier between us, there was still that one common theme that we had all struggled which was really cool to see,” Fuller said.
Though this was her first abroad, Fuller has always been involved with her Alpharetta peers. Freshman, SAS Club here at AHS bonded the school’s typical and special education peers using athletics. After Fuller took the reins as president her Sophomore year, her additions emphasized genuine relationships among the students. , the club made real connections doing activities from athletics to dances, enabling the school’s special peers to have a authentic high school experience.
“It’s amazing and it comes from Sammi’s influence. She’s helped the typical partners at AHS be more open to their special peers. She’s treated the special ed. population with respect, honesty, but most of all like a typical peer. The club wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her,” Coach Landi, Unified Raiders Sponsor, said.
Planning, organizing, and dedicating energy to the club has caused Fuller to sacrifice a lot of personal time of her everyday life. Yet Fuller makes sure she gives her all to Unified Raiders any way she can.
“She’s always looking out for the better of others. That’s one thing that’s just evident in the club. She spends her time, even sometimes her money, I believe, for the benefit of the club. She helps no matter what the cost is at her take,” Matt Mcgivney, Head of Department of Athletics of Unified Raiders, said.
According to Fuller, along with the hassles of everyday life as a student, organizing Unified Raiders isn’t an easy task. Her patience, leadership skills, organization, and support from the club have carried her through. In the end, the struggle is always worth it.
“It’s great to see the progress, and how many people come together,” Fuller said.
By pursuing her vision and staying faithful to her moralities, the Unified Raiders President hasn’t only connected the special peer population, but she’s also affected those who volunteer. She may be a student at AHS, however, that hasn’t stopped Fuller from teaching lessons to her colleagues.
“Sammi makes me want to be a better person. Just watching her interactions, the way she interacts with all of them is with respect and just joyful,” Landi said.
Fuller has many fans in the club, and according to her, she’s just doing what she likes to do. She is leaving the AHS community this year with a new perspective from Fiji fresh in her mind. With her departure approaching this May, she has some advice:
“Find a passion and work towards that. If you find that one thing you’re passionate about, you’re pretty much set.”
The club isn’t looking forward to saying goodbye to Fuller. They are making the necessary preparations for new officers in the club to take her place, but no one wants to see her go.
“You can’t train that personality,” Landi said.
