November’s male student of the month is senior Samuel Warren.

Samuel is an active runner and has been involved in cross country and track for all four of his high school years. This year Samuel made it to regionals for cross country.

In track, Samuel participates in the 800m, 1600m and the 3200m events.

In his spare time, Samuel goes for runs, draws, and plays video games. He has been in honors since his sixth-grade year and before that he was in the Leap program his fifth- grade year.

He is interested in pursuing a life in nursing once out of high school, and plans to attend UT Tyler.

“I plan on going into nursing because it pays well and costs less than being an anesthesiologist,” Samuel said.

Throughout his years in high school, the most influential teacher to Samuel is his dad because unlike any of the other teachers his dad has raised him and has influenced his life like no other teacher can.

“My dad has subbed so technically he’s a teacher and he’s impacted me because, well, he’s my dad,” Samuel said.

For Samuel, friends are key for school, they help distract him from stuff that he may be going through at the time.

“Friends distract me from what is going on,” Samuel said. “Sometimes my friend Xavier gives me candy in class and I just can’t help but smile,” Samuel said.

Art is a hobby of Samuel’s with his favorite tools being pen, pencil, and paper but to make his art, he has to have something play in the background.

“I just use pen, pencil, and paper for my art,” Samuel said. “I like to scroll through TikTok and find a beat I like and keep it on repeat when I draw.”

Freedom is a big part of Samuel’s art process. When there are prompts or rules for what he is making, it takes the fun out of it for him.

“I want more freedom with my art,” Samuel said. “Prompts at school take the joy out of it.”

Among all his school activities Samuel’s favorite is Cross Country and Track, for their ability to help him think more clearly.

“Cross country and track are my favorite school activities,” Samuel said. “Running clears my head.”

Samuel didn’t always plan on being in cross country; he wanted to be on the soccer team.

“I was training for soccer, but I ended up falling for cross country,” Samuel said.

Samuel’s strategy in his running is to lock in on the person in front of him and try to pass them.

“When at a meet I try to focus on catching the heels of the person in front of me,” Samuel said.

Going to regionals with the cross country team is Samuel’s most notable and favorite accomplishments of this year so far.

“My highlight from this year was going to Regionals with the cross country team,” Samuel said. “It the most notable thing this year.”

Samuel hopes to make running something that he does throughout his life, but more so for his health and not as much for competition.

“I hope to make running a life long thing,” Samuel said. “After high school I don’t plan to run for competitive reasons but more so for my overall health.”