Meet the graduates: Sam Hey ’24

Sam Hey ’24

Sam Hey ’24 compares his time behind the Red Brick Wall to an apprenticeship that allowed to work closely with faculty members. 

“I’ve gotten to know my professors really well,” said the biology major, one of two recipients of this year’s Maude Huff Fife Award for highest GPA in the Class of 2024. “They mentor you in your subject in ways you can’t find anywhere else. Making the things you learn in a classroom work in real life is hard. It helps to have that foundation.” 

Last week, Hey began working as an EMT for Campbell County Public Services. 

He’s always been interested in medicine and has found EMT work rewarding. Prior to starting his new job, Hey worked for the Charlottesville-based company Hospital to Home, part of a team that transported patients between medical facilities, discharged them from hospitals, and drove organ transplant teams and specimens between hospitals and airports. 

He also volunteered with the Campbell County Rescue Squad. 

Hey, who was a member of the men’s swim team and played cello for the Randolph College Orchestra, used a RISE grant to pay for an EMT certification course last summer. 

“I really enjoy doing this work and taking care of people who are at really low points,” said Hey, a biology major. “People in high acuity situations need the most help. I like to be involved where the most help is needed, and we get to do that as EMTs.

“I think of who I was before I got to college, and that person was not ready to handle this work,” he added. “But who I grew to be here is ready.”