Ms. Samantha Scardino is a new teacher at Cam High, teaching English as well as the Myth, Metaphors, and Symbols in the World of Harry Potter.

Prior to working at Cam High, Scardino taught for three years at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita and earned her BA in English at Cal State Northridge. 

Scardino knew about Cam High before she applied as a teacher. She said, “A big part of it is it’s much closer than my previous school. But I had worked at Pleasant Valley Aquatics Center down the road so I knew the area well, and I heard great things about [the high school].” 

Scardino is energetic both inside and outside of the classroom. David Lee, senior, said, “Scardino is very passionate about Harry Potter and teaching her students. I was caught off guard on the first day of school by her enthusiasm.”

Outside of school, Scardino spends most of her time exercising and enjoying the outdoors. She is a competitive Powerlifter and has won the first-place prize for her weight class at various power-lifting competitions. Scardino also trains with the current strongest man in the world, Martins Licis. “He’s amazing, super nice, a big teddy bear, and a huge anime nerd, which you would not get by looking at him,” Scardino said.

Scardino was originally not supposed to teach the Harry Potter class; however, her passion for Harry Potter drove her to teach it, and she is now working with Ms. Christine Lawler. Scardino teaches one section of Harry Potter first period, and Lawler has one class offered third period.

She looks forward to the upcoming year teaching Harry Potter. “I taught [the Harry Potter class] to sixth grade middle school kids, and I had a blast doing it. I’m a huge Harry Potter nerd so the fact that I get to share with people who are just as big of a nerd as I am or have never read the series is a dream come true.”

Scardino also enjoys teaching her regular English class. She said, “I love the fact we get to be creative. I love that even though I might be teaching the same thing year after year it’s different every single time and every single class period. People bring in their own life experiences into the analysis, into the reading, and it ends up being different every day.” 

She has had a positive initial first impression of Cam High. “So far, [Cam High] is great. All the kids have been fantastic. I have gotten two art works already that have made me super happy, and everyone has been super helpful,” said Scardino.