Meet Nick Samuel

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nick Samuel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nick, how do you think about risk?
Taking risks is a necessary part of life but it should be strategic and well thought-out. An individual should think about the pros and cons that come with any professional or personal risk, as well as seek out advice from a mentor. The upside is that such risks, whether it be moving to a new city, starting a new project, or writing that long-awaited novel, could lead to future opportunities for collaboration, an important theme for my career.

A risk I took came back in the fall of November 2021. I decided to work in the community as a part-time instructor at the Gifford Youth Achievement Center (GYAC). It’s an afterschool facility that sits in Gifford, a small but history-rich town in Indian River County. I was also working as a full-time journalist for VeroNews.

I love reading and writing about space. So, I applied for GYAC’s students to participate in a NASA Downlink, which is a highly-competitive Q&A event where students across the nation get to ask questions to astronauts in space. The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity opened the doors for students at the center, located in the underserved community of Gifford. We worked to have their pre-recorded questions answered live on NASA TV by astronauts living on the International Space Station.

It was a risk, but a groundbreaking one for the youth center, which sits about an hour south of the Kennedy Space Center, that was broadcast on TV stations and published in newspapers and magazines. It would have been one thing to take the kids on another tour of the space center, but this was way cooler. It was inspirational.

Filling out the intensive application and contacting stakeholders was the first step. Then some months later, after we found out GYAC was chosen for the downlink, we prepared the students to write down questions and speak in front of the camera.

The actual event was held on July 6, 2022 at GYAC. The students also hosted a science fair with the theme “Living in Space, Preparing on Earth” and then watched astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins answer their questions in real-time from a giant screen located in the gymnasium. This connected many of the students in a truly familiar way. For some it’s not a matter of looking up and seeing a direct connection to the stars.

Taking the risk of applying for the downlink allowed me to step outside of my comfort zone, learn new skills such as strategic event planning, dealing with different agencies and personalities. It also exposed students to something they will always remember. I still have some who come up to me to talk about it. The project was successful and led me to unexpectedly be recognized as the 2022 Communicator of the Year from the Florida Public Relations Association Treasure Coast Chapter.

Preparing for the downlink showed what is possible when various organizations work together toward a common cause. If anything, having GYAC participate in the downlink will be etched in memory and forever leave an impact in the history of Gifford.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a boy growing up in Maywood, Illinois, writing became an outlet for self-expression. I grew up penning poems in school and eventually started composing stories for my high school’s newspaper.

My parents allowed me to be creative and encouraged me to keep writing. While in college at Jackson State University, I wrote for The Blue and White Flash Newspaper and also interned at The Clarion Ledger, the local daily paper in Jackson, Mississippi.

Learning the fundamentals of reporting, from experience at the college paper and the city paper along with news writing classes, paved a path for me to enter graduate school. After graduating with a bachelor’s in broadcast communications from JSU in 2011, I moved back to Illinois and started classes at Columbia College Chicago.

There, I received hands-on experience from veteran journalists like Martha Irvine (Associated Press) who taught me how to report on hard news and how to compose multimedia projects. Earning my master’s degree in public affairs journalism was definitely challenging…and at times seemed impossible, but it’s an accomplishment that I’m most proud of because I learned how to remain resilient during adversity.

After graduating from Columbia in 2013, I wrote for a few community newspapers, but none had the impact of me moving to Florida in 2016.

In the Sunshine State, I joined VeroNews, where I got experience as a breaking news and enterprise journalist mainly working in the Gifford community. Mentors like J.D. Gallop, a lifelong journalist and educator who works at Florida Today and teaches media writing at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, poured their wisdom into me, advising me to give back and volunteer while also improving my craft. I worked briefly at TCPalm before that, cutting my teeth on routine breaking news coverage.

But the greater opportunities at VeroNews allowed me to write about the community I had grown to love, from the beaches to those classrooms at GYAC, along with chances to occasionally join journalists from around the world in covering launches at the Kennedy Space Center.

I moved from Jensen Beach to Vero Beach in 2019. Since then, I have been a volunteer and member of organizations such as the Gifford Historical Museum and Cultural Center and the Gifford Youth Achievement Center. Being part of the community has helped me discover the untold stories in Gifford, a small, Black, front-porch community in Indian River County.

Such stories include the life of Dr. A. Ronald Hudson, 93, of Vero Beach. Hudson co-founded the Gifford Youth Achievement Center in 1998, was the first Black principal across the School District of Indian River County and also the first Black Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction.

My goal as a journalist is to continue to uncover these hidden heroes and bring them to the world. It’s all about connections and collaboration.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Grabbing a French toast breakfast special on a Saturday morning at Grind and Grape, a beachside restaurant, would be the first item on my weekend itinerary in Vero Beach. Then, I would head over to the Vero Beach Museum of Art, which puts on an impressive variety of exhibits, ranging from themes including life in ancient Egypt to Rock ‘N’ Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip. The beachside museum occasionally has free admission on Saturdays. I would then take a drive to Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary, also located beachside, to see the World War II Tribute that was recently revealed on Veterans Day. Then, I would drive to the mainland and grab lunch at Zafem Caribbean Restaurant, a celebrated Haitian eatery with traditional island cuisines, located in Gifford. The Gifford Historical Museum and Cultural Center is down street and a few minutes away…so that would be my next stop. Inside the museum shows the history of Black pioneers who paved the way for Gifford to have clean water, paved streets, streetlights and improved academics for the youth. Then, I would head to downtown Vero Beach and grab a drink at American Icon Brewery, a popular restaurant and pub housed in an industrial building that used to be the Vero Beach Diesel Power Plant. My last stop would be at Kilwins Ice Cream, which is back on the beachside.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to give a shoutout to the amazing leaders at the Gifford Youth Achievement Center (GYAC), the diligent, fearless and inspiring pioneers at NASA, along with my mentor J.D. Gallop. Working with Jeff, GYAC and NASA has shown me that life is truly about pouring into each other.

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Image Credits
KAILA JONES