A star on the court, Sam Carangi, a freshman at Villanova continues to shine at the Division 1 College Level after graduating North Penn in 2017.

During Sam’s highschool career, she earned four varsity letters on the girls basketball team and unlike many players, she reached over 1,000 points in just four years. First Team All-League, Second Team All-State, and a nomination for the Mcdonald’s All-American Game were all under her name on the court. Not only was she excelling in the athletics, but in the classroom as well as she received distinguished honor roll all throughout high school. The fellowship of Christian Athletes was also really big part of her high school experience too as it helped her become comfortable with herself and gave her confidence going into the next part of her life along with all the new people she met.

Wrapping up her time as a Knight, Carangi committed to Villanova University to play Basketball and to Major in Communications, specializing in Marketing and Public relations. Although Carangi Redshirted this year, she was still a major component of the team as she was still allowed to practice and travel with the team. Using this year as an advantage to her, she was able to get acclimated with the team and see how athletics differ on the college level. Together the team once again played in the Women’s March Madness Tournament and continue to strive for a spot in it every year. Carangi hopes to involve her major with sports or houses after graduation.

One on one with Sam:

What is your favorite part about college?

“My favorite part about college would definitely be the amount of freedom we are given. The best example of this I would give is the fact that we can create our own schedules. The earliest class time I have this semester is at 10:30, which with basketball, helps a lot when we would get in late from away trips or have long practices the day before, it is nice to have control over your days and what you want them to look like. Also, living in the same building, and campus as your friends is awesome. In high school it’s more difficult trying to spend time with people because of schedules and distances, but in college you are in walking distance from everyone, so that is definitely another one of my favorite parts of college as well. In the athletics aspect, the bond you make with your team in college is nothing like you experience in high school. In high school you practice for 1-2 hours every day with your team and you have games for 1-2 hours as well, but in college, the amount of practices, meetings, traveling, etc. that you do together is unlike anything I ever experienced before, and I know the relationships I’ve made with my teammates will be a forever thing, which I believe helps on the court as well,”

What do you miss most about North Penn?

“What I miss most about North Penn would probably be the relationships made with the teachers. In high school, it was much easier to build a relationship with your teachers and the staff in general because sports are such a huge part of North Penn, everyone wanted you and the team to succeed. Not only that, but North Penn itself really felt like a community. At Villanova, it’s a community as well, that is one of the main reasons I chose to come here, but college has a more business-serious feel to it. Obviously your professors want you to succeed in and out of the classroom, but it is harder to build the types of relationships that were built in High School because you’re professors have so many students, it is out of their hands sometimes,”

What is your advice to high schoolers?

“The advice I would give to current high schoolers is to not take advantage of it and don’t wish it away because it really does fly by so fast. Stay friends with your high school friends too, obviously making and meeting new friends in college is going to and has to happen, but always keep your past friends there. Most importantly though, don’t be afraid of going to college. Everyone is in the same boat you’re in: nervousness, fear of the unexpected, meeting new people, but that is all to be expected, so just be yourself and everything will eventually fall into place.”