By Jennifer Eder
Sam Collins grew up near the Washington neighborhood of Petworth.
Although Petworth is only about five miles from Foggy Bottom, Mr. Collins, a senior in GW’s School of Media and Public Affairs, says they’re worlds apart.
“There really is a divide between Foggy Bottom and the rest of the city,” says Mr. Collins. “Most of the students here don’t know a world beyond their own surroundings, but there is a lot more to D.C. than government buildings and the downtown area.”
Mr. Collins, who is studying journalism and mass communication, is working to close that divide at GW through his publication, Ace Magazine.
Growing up, Mr. Collins, a first generation African American, witnessed crime, poverty, illiteracy and drug addiction in his own neighborhood. His parents emigrated from Liberia in the 1980s.
But thanks to his parents’ strong support of education, there was never a question that Mr. Collins would go to college. He just never imagined being able to go to a school like GW.
“I never thought I would be able to get into GW. I thought it was only for kids from the suburbs of New York and New Jersey,” he says.
Mr. Collins hadn’t planned on even applying to GW until his college counselor encouraged him to apply to the Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Scholarship Program, which provides full four-year scholarships to D.C. high school seniors.
“He comes out of a background where success is not guaranteed, and he has overcome a lot of obstacles,” says Michael Shanahan, an assistant professor of media and public affairs. “Because of that he deserves a lot of credit.”
From a very young age, Mr. Collins had a strong passion for journalism and politics, thanks to his father’s Sunday ritual of watching the late Tim Russert’s Meet the Press.
He served as editor for his middle school paper and wrote for Young D.C. – a newspaper produced by and intended for Washington-area teens – during high school. And he made his father proud in 2006 when he met Tim Russert during a summer journalism program at American University.
At GW, one of Mr. Collins’ main priorities is getting students to visit and learn about areas of the District outside of Foggy Bottom.
“Most students don’t know about the racial, social and economic divide in D.C.,” he says. “If you go into Ward 7, what you see is totally different from what you see right here in Foggy Bottom. I tell my peers to get out of Foggy Bottom and go visit Anacostia, U Street and Potomac Avenue.”
Mr. Collins’ passion for journalism pushed him to get involved with the Black Ace, a newsletter geared toward GW’s black community. But he quickly saw potential for the newsletter to become a magazine.
Today, Mr. Collins has about 40 staff members and publishes Ace Magazine once a month.
“Ace gives a voice to the underrepresented populations at GW,” says Mr. Collins. “It’s now geared toward all multicultural students.”
After graduating from GW, Mr. Collins wants to work for a newspaper or magazine reporting on issues affecting the black community in D.C. and writing about ways to improve the challenges facing the District.
One of Mr. Collins’ most memorable experiences at GW was earlier this year during an internship with McClatchy Newspapers when he profiled an African American male suffering from HIV.
“He is very conscious of the need for journalism to have more African American reporters telling the story of African American culture, economics and what’s going on in the African American community,” says Mr. Shanahan. “He really is a terrific young man.”