//Sammy Clough ’20 jumps into education and coaching with both feet

Sammy Clough ’20 jumps into education and coaching with both feet

He didn’t have teaching or coaching experience. But  Sammy Clough ’20, a communication studies graduate, landed a position doing both at Augusta Christian Schools in Georgia in the same year COVID-19 upended just about every industry.

Middle school students in Clough’s digital communications class.

At ACS, Clough teaches digital media communications to sixth- through eigth-graders and leads students in producing a twice-weekly news program, “Lions Den News,” where students become executive producers, cameramen and women, lighting experts, new anchors and scriptwriters.

Clough’s segue into teaching developed organically. “I never thought I was going to be a teacher,” he said.

He was enjoying his communications coursework at Furman, but as a Young Life leader at Greenville’s Eastside High all four years at the university, he wasn’t quite ready to give up working with younger kids. That’s when he started applying to various private Christian schools where he could secure teacher certification on the job.

He arrived at ACS after staff members there took a second look at his credentials. He had originally interviewed for a Bible teacher position.

This past May, shortly before graduation, Clough received a follow-up call from the school at his home in Suwanee, Georgia. Staff at ACS said they thought he’d be perfect for teaching a middle school computer class. And what excited him most about the prospect was the cart blanche ACS gave him for creating the course.

“That fired me up right away because I took broadcast communication my freshman year with (Associate Professor of