The Class of 2026 is nothing short of extraordinary. Many of our graduating seniors have much to be proud of as they leave the familiar hallways of HC and begin the next chapter of their lives. However, one student stands out as exceptionally intelligent, successful, and compassionate. While roles such as president of National Honor Society and a heavily involved leader of Key Club encompass some of who Sam Kotter is, there is much that our community does not know about the remarkable student and person behind these esteemed titles.
Kotter’s passion for service has sparked much of his involvement in the HC community: “I feel like I saw a lot of positive change from Key Club,” Kotter said. “I made a lot of friends there, and I wanted to be more involved so that I could make a greater positive change.”
Key Club is a student-led organization that focuses on leadership development, character building, and community service. More recently in his high school career, Kotter was elected president of National Honor Society at HC, a nationwide organization for high school students that recognizes excellence in scholarship service, leadership, and character.
“I think, especially this year, balancing all those different roles, I really had to fight against burnout and had to figure out how to juggle a lot of things while also prioritizing myself,” Kotter said. “It’s been a challenge, but definitely a rewarding one.”
Under Kotter’s leadership, National Honor Society has served HC’s English Language Learner (ELL) students by providing them with tutoring and support for credit recovery.
“I think my favorite thing that I can really claim as my own has been our [National Honor Society] project to help with ELL tutoring,” Kotter said. “I have the opportunity to meet a lot of those students who otherwise I never would have met and [to talk] to Ms. McDaniel, the teacher in charge. I think that we’ve had a really positive impact and helped a lot of kids with their schoolwork, so that’s been good.”
The time that Kotter has dedicated to leading National Honor Society has fostered his leadership style through discovering the importance of inspiring others to serve the community.
“When I try [to] be a good leader, what that means to me is clearing the way for other people to do what they need to […] and I think that has led to a lot of people engaging beyond NHS and going out of their way to do their own service,” Kotter said. “All in all, just enabling people has been what I would call my leadership style.”
Outside of school, Kotter’s devotion to community service does not end: his involvement in church further illustrates how Kotter desires to benefit those around him.
“Through church, I’m just surrounded by a great community of young men and young women who I hopefully have helped to lead,” Kotter said. “With their help, I’ve done a lot of community service. […] It’s just been great to meet a lot of new people and get much more diverse relationships than I otherwise would have.”
Kotter will bring his gift for service to a regional administration area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on mission after high school.
“I will be going on a mission for my church, two years to the French speaking Canada Montreal mission,” Kotter said. “After that, I’ll be going to college. I don’t know where, looking like BYU, but we will see.”
After two years of working to establish local, French-speaking church units in Quebec, Kotter plans to seek postsecondary education and has been accepted to Yale University. His current experience working at a robotics lab at the University of Kentucky has helped to prepare him for what is to come in college.
“I think that [working at the robotics lab] has been one of the steepest learning curves I’ve had to work through and some of the hardest things that I’ve had to learn,” Kotter said. “I think that pushing through that has been super beneficial to me and has really helped me improve intellectually and just overall, in having to work through that.”
While acquiring challenging skills like programming, Kotter has been introduced to various branches of neural networks that he may be interested in pursuing at the college level.
“I think in college, I will, at the very least, do something similar,” Kotter said. “Another branch of neural networks that has really fascinated me has been language processing […] I know that no matter what I end up doing in college, I’ll definitely take a lot of the skills that I’ve learned from the research.”
Reflecting back on his involvement and academic achievements, Kotter is overjoyed by the rewarding experience he has had at HC.
“I am so proud that I went beyond my comfort zone, and that I got involved in the community,” Kotter said. “Freshman year me would have never dreamed that I would spend this much time at Henry Clay, but it has been so beneficial to me. I’ve really grown through it, and I’ve seen that I’ve made an impact. So, my advice to younger students would be just to get involved.”
Kotter’s ambition should be an inspiration to all students hoping to make an impact at HC.
There is no doubt that Kotter has made our school a better place, and his legacy will be felt by Blue Devils for years to come.
