Sam Merrin

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." ~Henry Brooks Adams

Sam Merrin is a computer literacy teacher at a Santa Rose high school. She graduated from San Jose State University in 2003 with a BA in Education and a Minor in Public Relations. Becoming a teacher was a lifelong goal of hers, but she lost her drive to teach during college, and began leaning towards the seemingly more glamorous career of public relations. After her graduation, Sam Merrin returned to her hometown in the California Wine Country to pursue a career as a PR Associate for a winery. Having spent the majority of her childhood summers on her grandparent's winery, Sam Merrin was well-acquainted with Oenology and thought she made an ideal candidate for a wine marketing position. Most wineries had other ideas, however, and were unwilling to hire the teacher turned PR Associate or recommend her to their existing PR staff. Her unusual educational past coupled with her lack of experience made her nearly unhirable in the wine marketing industry, but just as she was about to give up on her dream, a small winery offered her a job. It was low pay and low-profile, but she was able to use much of what she had learned in school to successfully promote the winery, and she even garnered some new experience. After two years of marketing, she was ready for a change. She quit her job and took some leisurely time off to reassess her priorities and her career path and to accomplish some long-overdue goals. She contemplated going back to school or even going back into the marketing industry with a different company, but at the urging of one of her close friends, Sam Merrin decided to try her hand at teaching.

Having had previous experience with web design, coding, and programming in the marketing industry, Sam Merrin decided to apply for a computer literacy teaching position at one of her district's high schools. To her surprise, they were greatly impressed with her comprehensive knowledge of graphic design and C programming, as well as her general computational and technological skills, and hired her on the spot. Although teenagers can be as disruptive and rowdy as two-year-olds some days, Sam Merrin truly enjoys having the opportunity to share her skill and love of technology with so many promising young minds, many of whom will go on to invent technology more astounding than anything she could ever have taught them or imagined. Despite spending the majority of her time in the classroom or correcting homework, Sam Merrin does take some time for herself on occasion and, every now and then, enjoys taking a trip to the wine country, going dancing, watching foreign films, or relaxing with a good book.