The storm rolled in fast. Lightning cracked close enough to light up the walls of the tent. Rain hammered from all sides and hailstones pelted the ground. It started to snow. Inside the small tent, Samantha '26 and Nika '26 huddled together as the weather raged outside.

“We got caught in a huge storm” said Samantha. “There was lightning super close to our tent. Our tent was flying into our faces.”

The Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award expedition this fall—four days of hiking with four other students (with two faculty members supervising from a distance)—tested Samantha’s resolve. “By the end of it, all of us were exhausted.” 

“All of a sudden, out of nowhere, it started pouring. We weren't able to cook any more. We thought it was going to stop in two hours. So we ran to our tents and just left our food out there. There was no time to grab it.”

Eventually the students realized the storm was not going to pass. Dinner that first night turned out to be “crunchy rice and crunchy beans,” cooked under the tent fly just outside of their tent. “It was the only dry spot we had.” After their questionable meal, they settled in get some sleep, but were awoken repeatedly. “There would be a lightning strike and our whole tent would light up. It was scary.”

Originally planning to summit the iconic Dents du Midi, the group was forced to reroute their climb due to the weather conditions. “It wasn't safe, so we had to summit another mountain instead.”

Still, Samantha lights up while telling her story. “It’s really fun, you bond with everyone on the trip.”

That resilience and joy have defined Samantha’s four years at Leysin American School.

Samantha grew up in Lake Placid, New York, a small town surrounded by mountains. When her family moved to Switzerland, she immediately connected with the beauty of her new surroundings.

“The mountains never grow old. When you look out your dorm window and there's a new sunrise every day, and the mountain has different amounts of snow on it each day, it’s amazing” Samantha said, “It's always beautiful.” 

If the scenery drew her in, the community keeps her grounded. “I enjoy being in a small village. I think it creates a community here that is different than in a big city because everyone knows each other.”

Sports became one of her avenues for growth. A runner back in the United States, Samantha surprised herself by joining the football team at LAS. “When I first began playing, I didn't have any ball control skills, but I knew how to run. As I kept playing, I learned how to shoot, how to pass, and how to dribble.”

Her philosophy as the captain of the football team is straightforward: “If you're on the team, then you go to practice and put in the work.” She even advocated for an extra weekly practice to give her team more time to become a cohesive unit.

Some of the football games tested their grit more than others. “At the end of last year, it began snowing in the middle of a game. By the end, there was three inches of snow on the pitch, “ Samantha said. “We won against a team that was very good. We were laughing and excited to be there.”

For Samantha, sports are about being active and in the environment. “I love to play football. I love being on the freeride team. I love to hike, I love to take advantage of the outdoors here,” she said. “We're surrounded by beautiful mountains. It would be crazy not to take advantage of it.”

Leadership came along naturally. Samantha has served four years on the Student Council as a dorm representative, helping run the student government and working on student initiatives. “In the past year we had our most successful campus-wide initiative—we installed water fountains everywhere.”

Working with the Eco Club, they created ‘Water You Up To?’ weekly challenges, encouraging students to reduce single-use plastic bottle usage. They offered up prizes for students who uploaded photos of themselves filling their water bottles at the new fountains. 

Looking back, she says, “It was probably one of the best things that I've done in StuCo.”

If sports taught her discipline and leadership gave her purpose, diversity at Leysin American School gave her perspective.

“In my friend group, I don't think there are two people from the same place. My best friend is from Canada. There are people from Japan, Russia, Spain, Mexico, Saudi Arabia. It's so diverse.”

One moment in particular stays with her. On a cultural trip, she and her friends were on a boat ride, each one taking turns playing music from home. “All of us had such diverse tastes. We were all from different places. A lot of it was music I had never heard before, but all of us were enjoying each other.”

“That's a great way of demonstrating how cultures can come together."