{"id":933,"date":"2025-01-17T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/?p=933"},"modified":"2025-01-30T16:06:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T16:06:58","slug":"inspiring-change-in-appalachia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/2025\/01\/17\/inspiring-change-in-appalachia\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiring change in Appalachia"},"content":{"rendered":"
West Virginia native Sam Kinnear is turning her challenges into change.<\/p>\n
\"Heritage
Community Vision Canvas from Sam’s workshops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam started attending Marshall full time in August 2021 and graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology in spring 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I\u2019m working on starting my own business, so having the community support for that has taken off a lot faster than I thought that it would. I’ve had a lot of encouragement that I didn’t expect,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n

Sam\u2019s business idea is for a nonprofit housing program designed to help individuals pursue homeownership. Her own experience inspired the idea to help people ensure they have stable housing while they are working, attending school or pursuing their dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to go to school for psychology and I did classes here and there, and I just kept dropping out. Not because I wanted to, but because the money wasn’t there. The time that I needed to put into it wasn’t there, and a lot of that was because I kept having to change houses every couple of years when rent went up,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n

Her long-term goal is to create a sustainable housing program in Huntington and make it possible for other communities to replicate.<\/p>\n

Recently, Sam participated in a 12-week cohort through Dress for Success, where she pitched her business idea as a finalist in Richmond, Virginia, and secured $1,000 for seed funding.<\/p>\n

\"Community
Community Vision Canvas from Sam’s workshops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam currently runs On the Rock, a trauma-informed coaching program that focuses on teaching emotional wellness through artistic workshops, individual coaching sessions and community collaborations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my most popular community collaborations last year was a community vision board where I just put out a canvas, put out a bunch of paints, and invite people to come paint on it,\u201d Sam said. \u201cThen we do a lesson about how each person kind of has a place in the community and we feel like we’re not adding anything substantial, but in the end, like if everybody makes their mark, something really beautiful comes out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam participates in First Ascent West Virginia<\/a>, a two-year program focused on helping recent Marshall University and West Virginia University graduates develop their hybrid and remote careers while encouraging them to explore everything Appalachia has to offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been helping in a lot of different ways,\u201d Sam said. \u201cI think the networking is the number one thing that contributes to success in every area, so that has been a big opportunity for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The networking through First Ascent has included seasonal get togethers, weekly coffee outings and conversations with others about personal and professional goals. Sam said it has helped ease the transition out of college, prevent burnout and helped her make new friends.<\/p>\n

\"Community
Community Vision Canvas from Sam’s workshops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam loves to hike so staying in the Mountain State has been a big deal to her\u2014but it\u2019s been more about the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuntington in general is just a tight-knit community, so I definitely wanted to be here and stay local,\u201d Sam said. \u201cI have lived in Maine, California and Virginia, and the community is not the same as it is here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Sam plans to pursue her master\u2019s degree at Marshall in the next year or two and hopes to help make mental health services more accessible and engaging in the Huntington region.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people in West Virginia aren\u2019t big on mental health services, so through art and group activities, they can experience self-growth in a more approachable way,\u201d Sam said.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

West Virginia native Sam Kinnear is turning her challenges into change. Sam started attending Marshall full time in August 2021 and graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology in spring 2024. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m working on starting my own business, so having the community support for that has taken off a lot faster than I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":945,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-moments","post_format-post-format-image"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/945"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":972,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions\/972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}