Samantha Dweck

Samantha Elizabeth Dweck (1990-2015) passed away on January 25 as a result of a kayaking accident. Born in Boston, MA and raised in Carlisle, MA, Samantha will be remembered for her many accomplishments, her deep engagement with life, her passions and the vital spirit to which she brought to her life endeavors. Her love of learning was evident from her early years in elementary school. She often invited friends over to play school in her room equipped with blackboard, paper, colorful pencils and her little jar of treasures that she used as rewards for the students in her class. She graduated from Carlisle Public School in 2005 and carried her love of learning on to Concord-Carlisle High School where she expanded her teaching career as a volunteer tutor and in community service projects. She made a return to Bill Gales middle school classroom where she happily tutored students in math. Throughout her education, Samantha supplemented her academic interests with her passion for sports which served as another venue for challenging herself. She proved to be a determined, goal-oriented athlete. For many years she was a dedicated and accomplished gymnast, enjoying the physicality and competition of the sport. Not only balancing herself on the beam, she created balance in her life which allowed her to succeed at the highest levels in high school. In 9th grade she turned the disappointment of a gymnastics sports injury into an opportunity to try track and field, moving from triple jump to hurdles and finally focusing on pole vaulting. In typical style she went full steam ahead winning many state medals and the Boston Globe All-Scholastic Award in pole vault in 2008. Samantha was an honors student who took on many leadership roles including class Vice President and President of the National Honor Society. She graduated from Concord-Carlisle High School in 2009 and continued her education at Brown University. At Brown Samantha struggled with the challenge of determining the direction of her energies. She did not see her many achievements as an end in themselves, but as a springboard for utilizing her skills to give back to her community and the wider world. She augmented her academic and athletic pursuits with contributions to the campus and surrounding community. She coordinated distributions at a food cooperative, taught culinary classes to food subsidy recipients, and worked at Browns college resource center. She also enjoyed escaping the campus bubble becoming a barista at a local coffee shop. There she met many new friends that added unique richness to her life. Wanting time to contemplate her future goals, she courageously chose to step off the scripted path, spending a semester volunteering through the WWOOF (World Wide Organization of Organic Farms) Program. During this time she traveled to Italy, worked on organic farms, taught herself Italian. This experience fed Samanthas passions for healthy living and led to her BS degree in biology at Brown, graduating in 2013. After college, Samantha moved to San Francisco, a good match for her interest in organic food and sustainable local food systems, and her love of nature and recreation. She worked for Credibles, a company that provides capital for small food enterprises. She joined the fitness group called the November Project. With her cadre of new friends, she hiked, biked, camped, and raced her way through the beautiful California countryside. She built her life in California with the same drive, zest, and enthusiasm of her early years. Her November Project friends honored her life with many Fast As Sam tributes, culminating in a memorial race with runners wearing their hats backwards, as this was Samanthas typical practice during her NP workouts. Samantha enriched the lives of her family, friends, and the world community with her drive and determination, her compassion, her joyful and generous spirit, her faithfulness to her ideals, her optimism, her encouragement, and her infectious love of life. Samantha is survived by her mother, Shelley Grant Dweck of Carlisle, MA, her father, Richard Dennis Dweck of Mountain View, CA and her brother, Jacob Winston Dweck of New York City, NY. She also leaves behind many loving aunts, uncles, and cousins. Donations in her memory may be made to: https://giving.lifespan.org/TMH-Community-fundraising#Samantha-Dweck.