#229 Samantha Peltz: Future Diplomat

Samantha Peltz was born in 1991 in Chicago, Illinois. She was the first grandchild for both sides of the family, so everything she did was amazing. When she was 3, she gave an eloquent speech about her Poppy at his 70th birthday, which really was amazing. Samantha was quite verbal as a little girl (and still is). When she was in first and second grade, she had a pink t-shirt that she wore every day. Luckily, she had two of these t-shirts so she could wear one while the other one was being washed. Samantha has always been comforted by clutter and the carpet in her bedroom is often completely covered by all the things on the floor. Samantha has always loved learning things and is an awesome student. She analyzes almost everything and asks a lot of questions. From an early age, Samantha could look at things from several different angles, which makes her good at winning arguments, and may lead to her becoming the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court some day. When Samantha was in 5th grade, she really wanted to be in the Chicago Children’s Choir. Singing makes her happy. She auditioned, but didn’t make it, so she practiced the whole next year and made it in 6th grade. Samantha keeps trying until she gets what she wants. With the Chicago Children’s Choir, she has made great friends and traveled to Japan and the Czech Republic, which opened up the world for Samantha. Since then, she has also traveled to Spain, Italy, India, and throughout the U.S. In many of these places, she lived with local families. Samantha has always been eager to meet people. She is fun and funny. The younger kids that she has taught in religious school and at an arts camp really like her. Samantha is the one in the group who gets everybody to do something crazy. For instance, this past year, history class focused on historic court cases and she role-played some of the people in period costume with great theatricality. Samantha's travels have created some of her great interest in world affairs and human rights. She is an intern at Human Rights Watch and is the head of her S.T.A.N.D. chapter, a student group raising awareness about Darfur. She is also the captain of the Model U.N. team at her school. Right now, Samantha is a senior in high school and working on her college applications. She hasn’t decided on a major yet, but she’s thinking about a career as a lawyer or a diplomat (or both).