By Donovan Levine
Contributing Writer

Samantha Fairchild is currently a senior at KU but will be graduating in May of 2021 because of an internship. She is majoring in professional writing, and she’s 28-years-old.

Fairchild spent five years juggling between working full-time and attending school.  She graduated high school in 2011 and took a few gap years before she started attending college at Reading Area Community College (RACC) in 2014.She transferred to KU in 2017. She worked full-time in telecommunications as an emergency operator for the Reading Police Department, which, to say the least, is no easy occupation for a college student.

When asked about how she balanced everything in her life, Fairchild said, “It’s a lot of hard work. The biggest thing for me was having a support system I could rely on.” She gave a lot of credit to her fiancé’s family, her best friend and her family.

She expressed, as a word of wisdom to anyone who struggles having a strong support system, that your own support system can be anybody you can rely on the most. “It can be a teacher, a counselor.It can be whoever. 

She’s a big Supernatural fan too, so from that she drew inspiration from the quote, “Family don’t end in blood.”

Fairchild gives a lot of credit to her relationship as well. “I had just come out of a toxic relationship, but after I met my fiancé, he really became a big part of my support system,” she said.

Fairchild is engaged to Nathan Frey, who proposed to her on campus by Lytle Hall during the spring of 2018 when the cherry blossoms were in bloom. She mentions that it meant a lot to her Frey chose to propose there. “I always had a love for Kutztown ever since I was in high school,” she says. Their wedding date is April 25.

When asked about the emotions surrounding her finally reaching the milestones of both marriage and graduation only a year apart, she described it as both “unreal” and “satisfying.” “You know, after being told you won’t get anywhere and then finally reaching your end goals, it’s very satisfying.”

She emphasized the importance of taking care of your mental health. “Taking a moment to slow things down for a second to take in everything.”

As I’m sure a lot of professional writing majors would likewise hope to do one day, Fairchild was able to self-publish her own book. The book is titled Blood & Butlers and is available on Amazon. She admitted to being a big J.K. Rowling fan and being inspired by seeing a lot of the obstacles she had to overcome but ultimately being able to write and create stories that people can really resonate with. She hopes to do the same with her own works and creations.