Samuel Nail aka. Sam is an Eagle Level Participant in The First Tee of the Sandhills and a Senior at Union Pines High School. Leading up to Sam’s senior year, he chose to forego applying for The First Tee’s National Opportunities in favor of summer school.
Yes, summer school!
But not what your thinking – Sam was accepted to attend Governor’s School of North Carolina! A six-week overnight program integrating academic disciplines, the arts, and unique courses.
He lives by the Healthy Habits of School and Community, is highly successful in the classroom and always finds time to volunteer at our Life Skills Curriculum Programs.
We sat down for a Quick 9 with Sam. Here’s what else we found out!
Hole 1: How many years have you been involved with the First Tee? This is my sixth year participating in The First Tee.
Hole 2: What is your favorite thing about The First Tee? My favorite thing about The First Tee is not only getting to play golf with friends and making lifelong connections with other participants but also getting to give back to the community through community service projects that The First Tee has participated in whether it be teaching younger kiddos in TFTS classess, serving food to local members of the community during the holidays, or helping build a house for a Habitat for Humanity home build.
Hole 3: What is your favorite subject/class/club at school? Math
Hole 4: What sports do you like other than golf? Basketball, Tennis, Baseball. Frisbee Golf. Really any sport that I can play with friends.
Hole 5: What is your dream job? An Aerospace Engineer for SpaceX
Hole 6: Who is your hero? Why? Elon Musk is my hero. Not only is he one of the pioneers for space travel and colonizing Mars but he is also trying to solve real-world problems, especially transportation issues. He is the CEO of Tesla, where he makes electric cars, but he is also helping to design and build rapid-transportation tunnels in big cities to reduce traffic.
Hole 7: Do you have any pets? What kind? What are their names? I have two dogs. One of them is a white German Shepherd named Edel (short for Edelweiss) and the other is a spotted shelter dog (unknown breed) named Yogi.
Hole 8: Tell us something fun about you people might not know? I used to live in Kansas City, Kansas for 12 years and I am the youngest of five children in my family with two older brothers and two older sisters. I also just made it into my #1 choice school, NC State’s Engineering College.
Hole 9: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? I would live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. My family used to vacation there when we lived in Kansas City and I fell in love with that city. The mountains are by far my favorite and I love snow so that is the place for me.