From Japan to Corbett

Sam Wallace was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1976. Both sets of his grandparents were Baptist missionaries in the country. Sam's parents also had a daughter, Rhiana who is one and a half years younger than Sam.  When Sam was three, his parents divorced and he moved to McMinville, Oregon with his mom and sister. Sam's mom graduated from Linfield College and had a lot of support and connections in the area. She was a school teacher and remarried when Sam was 10. His father moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands, and summers were spent in St. Croix with his dad and sister. His father eventually remarried and he has a half brother 13 years younger than himself. When Sam was growing up, he loved to play outdoors with friends. He played baseball and basketball in his youth and then played tennis all through high school. He was a strong student and loved academics. While in high school, he worked part time at a video store. He became fascinated with film. He went to Emerson College in Boston, MA. to study film. After a year and a half, he changed plans and moved to Portland to attend PSU. Sam lived off campus in a house with friends. One day while playing basketball at a nearby school, he got an inkling to ask if he could be a volunteer there. A new world opened up to him from this very positive experience, so he graduated PSU and then went on to their graduate program for teachers, the GTEP program. Graduate Teacher Education Program. Once finished, Sam started subbing as a teacher and got frustrated. He was looking to build relationships with students and it was not a good fit by just subbing. Sam went to South Korea for a year to teach English to Korean students. He learned a great deal but was anxious to return back to the states. After an 8 month sub position at Gilbert Heights Elementary, he was offered a full time position as a 5th grade teacher at Lincoln Park Elementary in the David Douglas School District. During this time he met his future wife, Marleen. She eventually began working at the Corbett School District and Sam was fascinated by her work environment! They married in 2013 and Sam eventually decided to also apply at Corbett. He was hired and began teaching in August 2014 as an intermediate teacher for grades 3,4,5 at the Corbett Grade School. He says this is his DREAM job and looks forward to coming to school each day. Sam and Marleen have traveled extensively to places such as Greece, Italy, Belize, NYC and plan to go to Japan when their 8 month old daughter gets a bit older. They have three dogs and currently live in NE Portland.