"With my straight A's in writing courses, I have a strong background in writing articles and papers," said Sam. "Working for a sports team combines my love for sports and increasing interest in communicating with people through mediums such as social media and online magazines."
Sam spent her freshman year at another Long Island college, where a writing professor told her to write about something she liked. Having grown up a baseball/Mets junkie, she chose that to write about.
Sam studied music education, but soon soured on the idea. She enrolled at Farmingdale for her sophomore year, still not sure where she was headed.
"I was so confused and lost, I didn't think I would ever find something I wanted to major in. I applied to Farmingdale so I could be getting an education, while trying to determine a career path. I figured that studying Professional Communications would give me a generalized education, while also broadening my horizons for a career option after college. Little did I know the success that would come from just the first three months of this major."
Sam has been a baseball fan since she was four years old, and was later indoctrinated into the Mets family by her mom and dad. When asked what about baseball hooked her into becoming a fan, she has a surprising answer, one that transcends just having a favorite team.
"The better question is, 'What didn't hook me to baseball?' I am in love with the different intricacies of the sport, the precise mechanics necessary for the perfect pitch, the accuracy batters need to have to hit the ball, and the more surface details like the crack of the bat, the atmosphere of the crowd at games, the home runs, etc."
At age seven, she played softball in her hometown league, but at one game she caught a ball in the face, and left the diamond forever. To this day, the decision still bothers her.
"I quit because I didn't want to get hit again. It was a very unreasonable reason to stop, but nonetheless I never played in middle or high school. That is probably one of my only regrets, not having continued with it."
But the trauma didn't keep her out of the ballpark. She remembers attending one game with her parents and brother, and recalls being antsy and eating cotton candy.
"I couldn't stop squirming in my seat, excited for the next hit. As any child would, I couldn't sit still for a long period of time, yet I loved watching baseball games."
Sam has been writing for MetsMerizedOnline for five months, and has published nearly 60 articles, about the Mets and other baseball news. Before that, she'd written about baseball only for school assignments. She applied for the job, and to her surprise, learned that several of the site's contributors followed her on Twitter. That helped influence the senior editor to hire her.
She has also been named to the Mets Fan Advisory Board, one of only 30 members selected from more than 300 applicants. She consults with the Mets media relations staff on content for YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
"Having grown up with social media, I have been observing the patterns and ways to grab followers' attention, especially with sports."
Soon enough, Sam will be at a crossroads. She has jump-started a sports writing career, but still has aspirations of doing media relations for the Mets (If she gets the job, she'll join five Farmingdale alums already working for the team.) She even talks about doing them simultaneously, though the conflict of interest that would arise would almost certainly make that impossible.
Still, given the combination of talent and passion, Sam's career goals seem practically assured.
