Sam O’Sullivan still retained many English traits, despite not living in England for over fifteen years. One of these traits is Sam’s love for soccer, or as he calls it, football. Sam is a big Liverpool fan, but will really watch a match between any two teams. In fact, while we were doing our interview, we had the world cup on in the background. When I asked him whether he was rooting for the US or England in the World Cup, he said he was rooting for England. The other main English sport Sam enjoys, though it is enjoyed by those all around the world including myself, is Formula 1. When asked who he supports, he said he likes it when British drivers do well. Keep in mind that there has not been an American driver in F1 since 2015, though American Logan Sargeant is joining the grid next year. Sam also talked about how his family celebrates Thanksgiving differently to the traditional American way. His family generally eat yorkshire pudding and chicken on Thanksgiving instead of the traditional turkey. He also talked about sharing his parents’ affinity to British television over American television.

Overall, Sam is pretty American. Despite his English roots, it is very difficult to tell he was not born there without knowing him well. The main sport he plays in ultimate frisbee, something played a lot more by Americans. He is the captain of the Needham High School Boys Ultimate Frisbee team, and regularly plays outside of that. The main way he does this is through BUDA. The Boston Ultimate Disc Alliance is the organizing body that provides the Boston area with many opportunities to play ultimate frisbee. Sam participated on a BUDA team over the summer, where he improved a lot and met players from other towns. He also now speaks with an American accent, despite his parents still holding British ones. If you pay attention closely, you can still hear remnants of Sam’s British accent. He uses slightly different words, like flat instead of apartment and pram instead of stroller. He also pronounces words slightly differently, like he pronounces pasta in the British way. Sam is pretty indistinguishably American, and considers himself that.

One thing that I found very interesting about Sam was the differences between him and his younger sister. His sister is a sophomore at Needham High School, and was born in the United States after Sam’s family moved to America. Since Sam was born in England, he has leaned into his British roots and culture more than his sister. The main difference between the two that Sam mentioned was his sister’s lack of appreciation for british entertainment. While Sam enjoys watching soccer with his parents, his sister does not share that interest. While Sam and his parents are watching soccer, she is usually somewhere else doing her own thing. The same is true for F1, another European sport. The same applies for Sam’s love for British television. While Sam enjoys watching British shows, his sister prefers to watch American shows. Sam’s sister is also not an English citizen. While Sam holds dual citizenship in both the United States and England, his sister is only a citizen in the US. Since Sam’s sister was born in America, she feels less of a connection to England than her brother.

Sam’s life in America has been very fulfilling. He has many friends, and has made an impact on the Needham community. He plans to attend college after high school, and hopefully play ultimate frisbee there. We are all glad Sam is part of the Needham community, and are glad his parents chose Boston instead of Poland.