Behind the Scenes
GHS athletic secretary Olivia Sampson earns MVP status
By Alex Havardansky
Every year at the end of August, the state of Texas kicks off one of its greatest past times. No, not America’ s pastime, Texas high school football. Down south, the Friday night lights are more than just an opportunity for kids to go out on the field and compete for wins and losses, district titles and state championships. It’ s a chance for whole communities to come together and represent themselves with pride.
As always, the No. 1 goal for each team coming into the season is to get to the end zone as many times as possible. Coaches make sure to prepare their players the most that they can during the week leading up to the big game and those players take the field to try and give their best effort.
However, a lot more happens beyond what the casual fan might see on the field on Friday nights. Behind the scenes workers are constantly moving around the clock to make sure students and coaches have the best possible experience during each season and without them, reaching the end zone wouldn’ t even be possible.
One of those pivotal behind-the-scenes workers is right at home in Greenville. If one were to walk into the field house at the high school, before getting to the office of new football coach and athletic director Chris Castillo or the film room or even turning left to get into the John Franklin-Myers weight room, one would be met by the smiling face of Olivia Sampson.
Sampson has served as the athletic secretary for Greenville ISD for five years now and has been working for Greenville ISD as a whole for a decade.
Originally from Royse City, Sampson has worked in-and-out of day cares throughout her life, but didn’ t start to get invested in child education until her kids started in grade school.
Eventually when Sampson moved from Royse City to Greenville, her three children also started to get involved in sports and her move into the athletics department shortly followed. Sampson said she didn’ t know much about sports when she first started off in Greenville’ s athletics department other than the fact that her kids were interested.
Mainly, she was looking for a steady income job that would also
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