Senior Spotlight: Samantha Ledbetter

Editor's Note: This is an occasional series spotlighting high school senior projects in the community.Name: Samantha LedbetterAge: 18School: Placer High SchoolWhat is your senior project? My project is shadowing an animal shelter employee/promoting pitbull awareness.Why did you choose that as your project?I chose it because I love animals and pitbulls are my choice of breed, because they are just the sweetest dogs and they have the worst reputation, which is really sad. Basically we all know about dog fighting, which is really a cruel and unusual punishment, which some of the breed has to go through. Pitbulls are some of the most commonly found dogs at shelters. I know this because I work at one. A lot of people just judge these dogs because of what they hear from the media … and a lot of the time they just go off descriptions, which aren't always correct. A lot of these people that judge pitbulls have never actually known if they encountered one before.How have you promoted awareness in your project? So far I have made a Facebook group, which at one point had about 170 people in it, and I just talk about pitbull facts. A lot of people have supported me in it. And I have made a T-shirt and a couple posters. I posted my senior paper on the Facebook page as well because it was really informative about the history, and description and nature of the pitbull.What college are you going to attend? I'm definitely going to Sierra (College) during the fall, but then after that I plan to go to Sac State and then Davis. I'm going to be a nurse practitioner. I plan to maybe one day have my license to keep pitbulls, kind of have a charitable organization (for them). I want to do something with animals, but I can't put them to sleep. I just want to eventually do something to where I don't have to do that.What are some of your hobbies and interests?Definitely animals. I just like to work and go to school, and I like to play video games. I just hang out with friends a lot. I try to work hard though because I want to have a brighter future than what I have now.What are your goals for the future? I just think that I want to be successful in whatever I do. I just want to be able to give myself the things I never had. (Having the pitbull organization) is more like a goal I guess. My cousin used to be friends with a lady that does a big pitbull organization down in Los Angeles. That is what kind of inspired me, just having a place where all these dogs that aren't given a second chance can come to me.~Bridget Jones