The Students At Meetings (SAM) Club is a group for students interested in graphic arts that meets once a month. The SAM Club was created because high school students were attending adult meetings about graphic arts but “it was too advanced for them and the students got bored,” said Venice Graphic Arts teacher Artie Lindauer. Mr. Lindauer organized the SAM club meetings so that the students could understand the topics better. Instead of going to the adult meetings, they now attend the SAM club meetings, every other month at Venice or other local high schools.

At one of the SAM Club meetings, Chris Wilson, a manager for Kelly Paper, spoke to the students. Wilson has been in the graphic arts industry for more than thirty years. He had a passion for it even at a young age. His passion started in junior high school and “it excelled in high school,” said Wilson.

He was so interested in graphic arts in high school that he took it for two periods. He even did many projects for his high school, such as printing school dance tickets, for free. After high school, he went to Pasadena City College where he took many graphic arts courses. He later opened his own tiny printing shop, which was smaller than a classroom, in downtown Los Angeles. He is now the manager at one branch of Kelly Paper in Culver City. Kelly Paper is a growing national corporation. There are forty-seven offices in the United States. His goal is “to one day own Kelly Paper.” he said.

There are many advantages for students who are SAM members. Club members get points towards scholarships by just being a SAM member. There are June scholarships for seniors who want to go to college. A scholarship committee gives out the scholarships. They announce who gets the scholarships in a banquet in June.

“The good thing about the scholarships is that they are renewable. That means you can get the scholarship more than once,” said Mr. Lindauer.

Kaitlin Lavery, the daughter of Terrie Lavery, who works in the Venice High copy room, received the scholarship twice. Terrie Lavery said that her daughter “has a 3.5 GPA so if all goes well, she’ll get the scholarship for a third time.”