Sammy Nishihama

By Haley Hart

“In the word ‘scent,’ is it the s that’s silent, or is it the c?” This is the type of question that plagues Sammy Nishihama, a girl that has felt responsible for other people’s grammar since third grade. 

According to the source herself, when Nishihama was in third grade she had a class with two teachers, “A weird split class, one teacher the first half of the week, and the other teacher the last half of the week.” She said, “One of the teachers noticed how quickly I finished my little word searches and made me sort of go around and help the other kids.” Nishihama even shared that her teacher displayed discontent with her when the other students didn’t have proper grammar on their worksheets, and that the teacher felt Nishihama should be responsible for that. However, this skill that caused 8-year-old Nishihama anguish, has now opened a door of wonderful opportunities for 16-year-old Nishihama, the new Co-Editor-in-Chief of Spyglass News. 

Last year, Nishihama underwent an “exciting, yet stressful” interview process held by former journalism teacher, Kate Kostecka, and former Spyglass editor, Claire Wilson, in order to secure her position as editor. She said, “It was some talking, and some article editing. When I walked in Miss. K was just sitting there, waiting, which was awkward and a bit scary.” Despite all this, Nishihama’s confidence wasn’t shaken, she knew that when it came to applying for editor, she had it in the bag.