Damian Samsonowicz seeks new perspectives and his desire to search led him to find the career he is most passionate about and helped him to a semifinal appearance at the First Annual National Speech Championships earlier this year.

Damian came to Moraine Valley with the idea that he wanted to be a doctor, but his experience here has changed his mind.

“This is just something I understood a few weeks ago. I wanted to be a surgeon, but the past year doing forensics has opened a lot of doors for me,” Damian said. “I became so engrossed in my biology classes. It’s really easy and simple for me and I love explaining it to others. It’s something I feel really passionate about.”

“I don’t want to spend eight years of school doing pre-med courses. After looking at all my options I figured education is where I want to go,” he added. “I also want to coach speech and theater in high school. Maybe one day I’ll go back and get my Master’s and teach in college. I really want to pass on my knowledge to other kids.”

Damian’s experience as part of the Speech and Forensics team led him to a semifinal appearance at the National Speech Championships held March 25 and 26 at Northwestern University. He and Curtis G. earned the spot in Duo Interpretation.

“It [forensics] is the messages you can spread to everybody. There’s so many topics that you don’t really think about,” Damian said of what draws him to speech and theater. “There are people doing pieces about what love feels like. It takes these ideas and blends them into a new perspective that you wouldn’t see.”