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stentorian
vol. XXXV, issue 3
north Carolina school of science and mathematics
October 2015
stentorianl23@gmail.com
Sampieri brings scripts to life
BY AJ Goren
Editor-in-Chief
Drama instructor Adam
Sampieri, affectionately
known to most students as
Sampy,. is known for his
upbeat and kind nature, and for
working hard to run the three
drama performances held at
NCSSM every year. Looking
eioser, Sampieri’s investment
in his work and love for his
craft goes above and beyond.
Sampieri got his start in
theater at age nine, starring
as Theo in a loeal high
sehool’s production of Pippin
in his northern New Jersey
hometown. Sampieri saw the
high school senior who starred
as the lead in that show later
go on to become a well-known
professional actor starring
in many big-name musicals.
Sampieri landed the same role
in Pippin the following summer
at a community theater, and the
experienee had him hooked.
At age 12, with a good
elementary school music
teacher, Sampieri took the role
of Arty in Neil Simon’s Lost in
Yonkers, the world premiere of
which took place in Winston-
Salem. This was Sampieri’s
first professional acting job,
and a demanding one at that
- he rehearsed and performed
the show nearly every day
for six months, often having
to leave school at noon. The
experience, he said, was both
“exhausting” and “a dream
come true” at the same time.
It was in this role
that Sampieri first felt
a connection to theater:
’People would often wait at
the stage door after the show to
meet and talk to us, and one day
aAer a matinee I was in a rush
to get home and see my. friends
when an elderly woman with
a walker stopped me to talk.
She had trouble speaking, but
wanted to tell me that she had
recently emerged from a coma.
She said that seeing the play, and
particularly my performance,
made her feel the best she had
ever felt since awakening... I
was humbled by the idea that I
could have done something so
signifieant for someone else.”
Sampieri’s biggest influence
in becoming a performing
artist was his father, who
was very involved in' show
business. Although his father
never pressured Sampieri to
be a performing artist himself,
his father supported him every
step of the way: “He was
always there to run lines, drive
Sampieri with wife
Cheryl Chamhlee and
daughter Lula. Chamhlee
and Sampieri worked
together on the writing of
"The Parent Project, ” a
play written by a troupe
of Triangle playwrights
for both hands theater
company. "The Parent
Project ” was performed at
NCSSM last spring under
Sampieri’s direction; he
called it a "highlight ”
among the dozens of
productions he has
orchestrated during his
time at NCSSM.
me to auditions, rehearsals and
calls, and watch me perform. I
am so very grateful for all the
time he spent with me and for
his constant, gentle support. I
miss him a lot, especially when
studying lines or on dpenlTI|
nights.”
Sampieri first arrived at
NCSSM in a now-defunct
position known as Drama
Coordinator, acting as the
continued on page 8 »
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General Assembly proposes
second campus for NCSSM
RY N'IAY L'XtL'I?i»
BY Max Schlenker
Editor-in-Chief
The North Carolina General
Assembly included $58.8
million in a bond proposal to
be voted on in March to build a
new STEM-focused residential
high sehool in Morganton, NC.
The new school is expected
to be a western campus of
NCSSM, but very little beyond
that is known of NCSSM’s
possible new sister school.
It has even yet to be
confirmed whether this
Morganton school will be a
eonstituent of the NCSSM
brand or a separate school
entirely, and possibly a
competitor.
As of now, the curriculum,
official name, designated
purpose, and structure is yet
to be determined. Public
or private? Semester or
Trimester? 9th-12th or a
different eombination? Will
students there be required to
take American Studies?
Anything and everything
is apparently on the table, and
current NCSSM administrators
hope to play an active part
in defining the role of the
possible second campus in
NCSSM’s overall mission.
Even with little
information available, the
news of the second campus
generated heated discussions
aniong students about the
future of NCSSM and
whether a new school in
Morganton would be the
best use of our government’s
resources.
Some students supported
the idea of NCSSM 2.0,
while most believed that the
state should focus more on
the Durham eampus instead.
Senior Reid Herrera
believes that “it could
a copy of the campus
Durham, or it could be
satellite campus for
Distance Ed. program.
Regardless, we have
opportunity to expand
presence of NCSSM
education in NC. This
merely another evolution
of NCSSM, an exciting
opportunity to be the
trailblazer for other schools
across the nation and around
the world.”
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Morganton, located in Burke County, is the proposed location for a satellite.NCSSM campus. The
location was chosen over Kannapolis as the site for the proposal.
be
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Junior Meredith Tobin was
more cautious, and stated that a
campus in Morganton “wouldn’t
be a bad thing since it’d still be
getting more education to more
people, but it wouldn’t have
the same research opportunities
as the current eampus does just
based on location.”
Other students were more
vehemently opposed to the idea
of a second campus and showed
little to no support at all.
Senior Yash Nalla argued
that having a new school would
“take away the foeus from
NCSSM in Durham” and senior
Alisa Cui shared with us that she
thinks “a more careful decision
should have been made that
involved the people that know
what truly makes this school
successful.”
Overall, the vote is not in
favor for a Morganton campus
among the student body, but
students’ say might not hold
very much weight against the
decisions of the North Carolina
General Assembly.
Despite persistent rumors,
the final verdict to actually
build the campus still has yet to
be made. From NCSSM news,
“The proposed Morganton
campus is part of $980 million
allocated to the University of
North Carolina system within
a S2 billion bond proposal.
The UNC funding package
will be placed on a ballot for
public vote on March 16,
2016.” This means that North
Carolinians will be voting to
approve the entire funding
package as a whole, most
likely without full knowledge
of what it entails.
It the March 2016 election
results show favor of the
funding package then NCSSM
- Morganton will be expeeted
to accept its first incoming
class in 2020.