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Teen of the Week: Parkersburg Catholic senior Morgan Sampson serves community

By Douglass Huxley 5 min read

PARKERSBURG -- Morgan Sampson, a senior at Parkersburg Catholic High School, transferred to the private school from Waterford High School at the beginning of her junior year in search of smaller class sizes and more interaction with her educators.

"Not that Waterford is big, but I felt like I'd have more of a one-on-one with a teacher here," Sampson said. "I definitely like it smaller. I feel like I have a better connection with the teachers and my classmates here. Everyone here is like a big family. Everyone supports you."

Sampson plays point guard and shooting guard for the Parkersburg Catholic Crusaderettes basketball team and said she has been playing since she was 4 years old. She said she enjoys the physical aspect of the game but her favorite part is making the perfect assist and setting up her teammates for shots.

"I remember passing a half court pass all the way to the basket for a layup," Sampson said when asked about some of her favorite passes. "And then last year against Ravenswood I passed it around, like clear around, to the foul line and one of my teammates made a basket off of that."

While basketball has been her longtime passion, Sampson also makes time for volleyball, serving as an outside hitter for the team. She said this is her first two years playing volleyball and that she joined to try to get to know people and make friends.

"Volleyball definitely helped me do that," Sampson said. "We didn't have the greatest season, but it was a lot of fun. Everyone had fun and that's all that really matters."

She said she's created a lot of friendships and bonds being a part of each team and she expects those to continue on even after high school.

"Most of the girls on the volleyball team are on the basketball team, too," Sampson said. "We would just spend time together, have sleepovers all the time. We just all like being around each other."

Sampson is also actively involved in serving her community as the President of Parkersburg Catholic High School's Interact Rotary Club. She said she joined at the beginning of her junior year as another way to meet new people and has grown to love the service aspect of the club.

"So I wanted to continue again this year and take a leadership role in it," Sampson said. "I really enjoy taking that leadership role and bringing our group together to help others."

As president, she works to coordinate club meetings and activities to strategize future service opportunities. Under her leadership, the club has organized several impactful service projects throughout the year. In the fall, the club ran a "Pink Week" fundraising effort that raised $2,000 to support breast cancer mammogram services and they also held a highly successful food drive that filled the food pantry shelves at the Children's Home Society of WV.

"It was really awesome to see that being filled up and see how much a small school could do," Sampson said.

She plans to continue helping others after high school as she pursues a degree in healthcare by becoming a physician assistant. She said she's always had an interest in healthcare but an internship she completed last summer at Marietta Memorial Hospital working alongside physician assistants was particularly influential.

"I just loved being around them, it was definitely my favorite part of the week," Sampson said.

And she is well on her way to achieving her goal as she will graduate this spring holding an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts from Washington State Community College, thanks to dual enrollment classes she has taken.

She said she hasn't committed to one school yet but that she's looking hard at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa. She said she's been on campus twice, once during a basketball camp and another during an official visit, and just fell in love with the school.

"It's just really beautiful up there," Sampson said. "I knew when I first stepped on that campus, I knew that was the place for me. I've been on a lot of college visits and none have felt the same way."

Sampson credits a lot of her success, and growth as a person, to the people around her. She said Michele Ferch, religion teacher at PCHS, has helped her with college applications and scholarships, and just life in general.

"She's always there when I'm having problems, and just talks to me," Sampson said. "It'd be hard without her here. She's definitely made a big impact on my life."

She said her coaches, Marty Vierheller, Tom Carr and Katlyn Richards, have also helped her grow on and off the court.

"They took me in as a junior and they helped me grow to be a better person, 100%," Sampson said. "Coach V (Vierheller) is very hard on me, but I know he does it for a reason. He definitely puts me in my place sometimes when I give him attitude, which is well deserved."

Sampson said her biggest supporters, though, have been her parents, Brad and Jenny Sampson. She said they have always pushed and supported her to be better in everything she does, they supported her transfer to PCHS and have recently helped her through one of the most challenging injuries – a concussion sustained in November that sidelined her from basketball- by taking her to doctor's visits and cognitive tests, and also driving her to and from activities while she is not cleared to drive.

"It's incredible," Sampson said about having that kind of support. "I know they'll help me throughout my life whenever I need it."

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com

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