Who he is….
Samuel Sawaya is a History and Humanities teacher on campus. He was a world traveler who, when he was younger, never dreamed of becoming a teacher.
Why he is interesting…. Sawaya originally wanted to be a diplomat or a lawyer. However, his life took a much different turn than he expected.
He was born and raised in Dayton, obtained an undergraduate at Xavier and a masters in History at Georgetown. His first job came from acquaintances who wanted to start a shipping business in Saudi Arabia. The goal was to move sand in cargo ships to countries that had beaches. He had the job for about a year.
“I had already got my masters degree in History, so I thought maybe I should do something practical with my life and get a business degree,” Sawaya said.
He went to the University of Dayton to obtain his masters in Business. He considered pursuing a doctorate, but during this time he accepted a job as a financial planning manager in Cyprus, Greece.
“That was one of my life dreams, to live and work overseas,” he said.
Little did he know then the realization that he wanted to be a teacher would occur during this time.
While working as a financial planning manager, he was surrounded by people who spoke Greek and decided it was necessary to learn the language.
“I knew exactly enough Greek to get me in and out of church,” he stated.
This was not enough. This need lead him to TASIS (The American school in Switzerland), where he realized he would be a teacher.
“Gradually, it was an entry into me being a teacher,” Sawaya said.
He started his teaching career with algebra, and over the years he has had the opportunity to travel the world.
“I’ve been to France, Cyprus, Lebanon, most of western Europe, northern Africa and the middle east,” Sawaya said.
During spring term in 2004, Sawaya was offered an opportunity to teach at Sinclair Community College.
“I was teaching Human Geography and World Regional Geography,” Sawaya said.
As his career continued, he branched out into different areas of History and Humanity.
“I’ve been to a lot of the places I teach about,” he said.
During the 2013 summer semester, he suffered a heart attack, which required surgery.
“Everything happened so quickly, I had no time to worry,” he said. “I was more worried about how [I was] going to get my papers graded.”
He said many students stopped by to see him through his recovery.
“One of the girls from my class who was a physical therapy student … she made sure that I got up and walked, she said ‘if I have to come back every day to make sure you get exercise, I will,'” he said.
He was pleased with how the students treated him.
“You know this is the summer term, where do you get that kind of loyalty, or that kind of interest from the students?” He said. “I must have done something along the line to have earned that kind of … respect.”
Sawaya returned in the fall of 2013 to continue teaching.
“I’m enjoying my time with my students more than I have before.”