As the class of 2026 enter Agua Fria, new personalities and people come into our campus. Many of these freshmen came into our Journalism class and made our class fun and thrilling. One person specifically that makes this school and this class special is Samuel Rowles. Known as Sam throughout Agua Fria. He is a 14 teen-year-old who plays soccer and is such a social butterfly.
Sam went to Wigman middle school before he came to Agua Fria. Sam would enjoy middle school and would enjoy the company that came with it. “It was good, I liked the people around. I feel like it was kind of like a poverty school, so it made it a bit challenging to get stuff.” But, I still loved it and it’s my home.
When coming to Agua Fria, Sam had some new things in store for him. When asking Sam,“ what’s one thing that you found interesting about coming to high school ?” Sam responded by saying, “I was surprised with all the freedom that you get. I feel like people start to really treat you like adults now. Compared to middle school, I feel like I get respect and it’s more professional.” When talking to Sam about school he had this to say, “I like school, I’ve always liked school, it's fun and it’s very interesting.
While interviewing Sam I got to know him on a personal level. One thing about Sam is he is a family person. He loves the presence of his family. Sam has two sisters and one brother. One thing that Sam will always remember is his mom and son dates he had. “ Something I will always remember is when me and my mom would go on dates.” Sam said, “We would always go to Target then we would get an icee from the food court before they changed it to a Starbucks. After we got the icee we would then go get a hot wheel… then we would go home. We would do that mostly every Friday, and we kept doing it for years. I have a big bucket of hot wheels in my closet right now!”
However, Sam is not just close with his immediate family he is also very close with his cousin. When asking Sam about some of his favorite childhood memories, Sam reflected on the past and said, “ Spending time with my cousin. Because he used to come over a lot when he was younger. We would just stay up all night, we’d play games, and we would snake out. It was just a fun time. He’s just a fun person to be around, he would teach me many new things and show me new things. He would always look out for me and he always wanted the best for me.
Throughout the interview, we went back and forth on his childhood and his future. Once we were on the topic of his future plans, Sam explained that he wants to do something in sports. “ I definitely want to do something within sports, whether that be a sports journalist or actually playing a sport.” As part of the journalism class, we all take a trip to Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU. When bringing up the topic of college, Sam didn’t really know which one to pick. “ I would probably go to Cronkite ASU, mostly because that's the only one I really know of that has a whole writing district dedicated to it. Also because it’s really close to home and family… so it’s perfect.”
By now you may have got to know Samuel Rowles as this outgoing, funny, and social butterfly of a person. If you want to experience how such a great person Sam is, you’re just going to have to meet him.
