Say Hello to Sam

Let's have a nice American howdy-do for Sam the ducky, named after Sam Yosafi and Sammy Perez, two outstanding alumni of Youth Journalism International who share the same name, sort of. Sammy Perez won't be at the Duck Race on the Pequabuck on Sunday except in spirit. Maybe I can get Sam Yosafi there, though, if he's not working, studying or performing. Sam the ducky will be there, though, along with Sgt. Schultz the German ducky and Moeka the Japanese ducky. More duckies to come, so keep watching!
Now about my two wonderful Sams.
Sam Yosafi is from Bristol, plays rock and roll and takes classes at Tunxis. He wrote many great things while part of YJI, many of them about local events and people, including the Witch's Dungeon classic horror museum.
Sammy Perez is from St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana and is in college there. She's the gifted writer who gave us all a front row seat when Hurricane Katrina devastated her home, her town, uprooted her family and generally turned her world upside down when she was just a senior in high school. Her hurricane journal is an incredible read.
To find the writings of either of these wonderful American Sams, go to www.ReadTheTattoo.com and click on the writer's index, highlighted in yellow in the upper left side of the home page. Then you'll have to scroll down to Perez or Yosafi to find them and what they wrote, but it's worth the time and trouble. As you're scrolling, you might get an idea of the number of students that my husband Steve Collins and I have worked with since we started this amazing adventure of teaching journalism to young people back in 1994.