Sam Gollob
McLean High School
Sam Gollob’s senior year schedule would have intimidated most adults: two hours of swim practice daily, starting at 4:45 a.m.; lifting weights for an hour twice a week after school; four AP classes; writing for his school magazine, The Highlander; and leading a host of meetings and activities as McLean High School’s student government president. In the latter role, he organized his school’s first homecoming bonfire, launched a school-supplies drive to support Houston students displaced by Hurricane Harvey, and led a student walkout on March 4 in solidarity with the victims of the Parkland, Florida, shooting.
Prior to his senior year, he produced a short documentary on an Indonesian human rights activist who is currently a visiting scholar at George Mason University. The documentary won a Fairfax County Student Peace Award in 2017.
“He’s so sincere, and when you’re talking to him he stops everything to focus on you,” says McLean High’s principal, Ellen T. Reilly. “That’s a rare quality to find in a high school student.”
Gollob’s parents always emphasized academics first, but he has also spent considerable time in the pool, ever since he started competing for the Chesterbrook Swim & Tennis Club at age 7. He swam for Chesterbrook in the summer, for the club team Machine Aquatics year-round, and for McLean High School (where he was team captain), during the winter. After several years of qualifying for USA Swimming’s Junior Nationals competition, he reached the finals this year in the 50-yard and 100-yard breaststroke. “I identify the most with people who swim,” he says. “They’re very motivated and very hard-working. Giving it your all every time, pushing yourself, not giving up—I really identify with that.”
Gollob now heads to Williams College (yes, he’ll be swimming there) and is considering a career in public service or journalism. His 90-year-old grandfather, Joseph Tydings, a former U.S. senator and U.S. attorney in Maryland, is a source of inspiration for him.
“He always stressed making a difference in people’s lives and giving back, and that always has had an impact on me,” says the McLean teen. “Helping others. That’s a gratifying way of living your life.”