FROM WRESTLING TO WRITING, SAMANTHA HAUFF ’25 IS PREPARED TO TAKE DOWN THE UNEXPECTED -- AN ENGLISH MAJOR WITH A CONCENTRATION IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES AND MINOR IN CREATIVE WRITING, HAUFF IS BUILDING A TOOLBOX OF RESOURCES TO HAVE AT THE READY, NO MATTER WHAT LIFE THROWS AT HER.
There’s one thing Presbyterian College senior Samantha Hauff learned in wrestling that she uses as a metaphor for everyday life:
‘If you can’t go one way, try another.’
In wrestling, this might mean switching up your offensive if your opponent is defending your move. Or, if someone is trying to pin you, you might bridge and turn another direction to prevent the pin.
On or off the wrestling mat, the quote is all about adaptation—using alternative strategies when your initial approach is unsuccessful. It’s about being versatile and having a diverse toolbox of skills and techniques at the ready.
In her nearly four years at PC, Hauff has built her own toolbox, and it’s now practically bursting at the hinges. She packed it full of first-hand experiences, meaningful partnerships and a wide range of talents, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.
The depth and diversity of Hauff’s toolbox is entirely her own doing; she is a highly motivated student who gives it her all in every endeavor. But Hauff also credits PC and her liberal arts education for giving her the ability to pursue so many different passions—and for helping her discover the connections between them all.
WRESTLING AND WRITING
Hauff has been a member of the PC women’s wrestling team since her freshman year. The team is a trailblazer in its own right, having been the first NCAA DI school in the nation to offer a sanctioned varsity women’s wrestling team back in 2019. Though Hauff hasn’t been able to compete as much as she would like due to injury, she says that being part of the team has been transformational for her.
“The overall Blue Hose athletic culture is like no other,” said Hauff. “We’re amongst the smallest Division I schools, but that makes for such tight connections between our teams. In women’s wrestling, the greatest part of being on the team for me has been building strong relationships with my teammates.”
During the 2023-2024 academic year, Hauff suffered from a knee injury that resulted in surgery and a missed season of competition. But instead of sitting on the sidelines, she looked for ways to stay involved with her team.
“I still made sure to be in the wrestling room daily,” she said. “If I couldn’t move my knee, I’d be in there lifting with my upper body. I always found a way to adapt to my circumstances and be as supportive as possible of my team.”
During this recovery season for Hauff, she also chose to extend her love of wrestling to the high school level, serving as the girl’s program coach for Greenwood High School in neighboring Greenwood. There she led the middle school team to a team state championship title with three individual champions. Hauff coached the high school team to a runner-up finish with four finalists, including an individual state champion. She also coached at high school nationals, in Virginia Beach, Va., helping her athlete achieve All-American status with a third-place finish.
“I’ve always found a way to adjust when things don’t go my way,” says Hauff.
Another pivot for Hauff while at PC? She followed her passion for writing and took an internship with the PC marketing communications office during the 2023-2024 academic year. There she learned about the importance of quality interviewing and news story writing, herself producing many stories that were published through PC News and The Bluestocking. One of Hauff’s articles, “Trails Ablaze, Glass Ceiling Shatter: PC Takes Down The First NCAA DI Women’s Wrestling Quad Dual,” earned her first place in the “Best Collegiate Sports Story” category at the 2023 South Carolina Collegiate Press Association Awards.
“This was a very rich internship for me—I learned a lot about writing good copy and built a strong portfolio, which is great as I hope to pursue a career in journalism,” says Hauff. “Hal Milam and the team at PC were great mentors. They gave me the leeway to explore my interests. I am really grateful for that opportunity.”
WRITING AGAINST VIOLENCE
Hauff has also used both her academic and creative writing as a means for expressing herself as an advocate against violence.
As a junior, Hauff researched and wrote her senior capstone project about a Ukrainian protest song that has become an anthem during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Hauff has family from Ukraine, and as a writer, she appreciated the opportunity to analyze the impact that words and music can have on people experiencing war and trauma.
Hauff has also spoken out against gun violence in schools for years. She first organized a rally at the South Carolina State House following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. Then, on Sept. 4, 2024, the unimaginable happened: Apalachee High School, the high school she graduated from in 2021, fell victim to a school shooting. Hauff’s mother teaches at the feeder elementary school.
“When my mom texted me that day about the shooting and all schools being in lockdown, I had this immense feeling of fear,” says Hauff. “You never think something like this will happen in your hometown until it does.”
Hauff immediately drove home from Clinton and was at Apalachee that evening for a community vigil. In the months since, she has been working with the group Change for Chee to build back a better community in her hometown.
Channeling these events into her writing, Hauff chose to focus her senior capstone project for her advanced creative writing course on the events at Apalachee. She used her interview skills to speak with dozens of members of her community, turning their stories into persona poetry—poetry that speaks through the voice of someone else.
“I was on the ground doing a lot of work, using what I learned in the PC marketing and communications office to interview people who were there at the Apalachee shooting,” says Hauff.
One of her poems, “The Light Places and the Dark Places,” shares the experience of a teacher who shared a classroom with one of the deceased teachers the period before the shooting occurred.
TOOLBOX AT THE READY
Hauff’s four years at PC—guided by her ‘If you can’t go one way, try another’ mantra—exemplify her belief that success comes from being adaptable and resourceful. She says that though all of the resources in her toolbox may seem unrelated, PC helped her understand how everything is connected and can build upon each other.
“PC and its liberal arts approach to education lets you get to the core of who you are,” says Hauff. “Each class you take, you see the interconnectedness of all the disciplines. You are the subsect of everything, and that’s unique for everyone. Everyone gets something different out of their time at PC.”
As she prepares for graduation in May, Hauff is looking ahead to new endeavors. She is applying to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program hoping to obtain an English Teaching Assistantship Award to sponsor her goal of teaching English in the country of Bulgaria.
Learn more about the English Department and Communications Studies concentration at PC by visiting the department web pages.
