Sam Pearsall '82

Mr. Sam Pearsall has demonstrated commitment to the Damien community through both his time as a student and through his continued involvement as an administrator.

Since the beginning of his time as a student at Damien, Mr. Pearsall has enjoyed and excelled in mathematics.  When asked about his experience at Damien, Mr. Pearsall stated, “I enjoyed my time at Damien very much.  I made life long friends, got involved in the hockey club, and was a fairly good student.”  Now, over 27 years later, Mr. Pearsall has made great improvements to the program he most thoroughly enjoyed, mathematics, while working to improve the academic standards of Damien as a whole.

After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics with a minor in Physics at Loyola Marymount University, Mr. Pearsall returned to teach at his Alma Mater from 1986 to 1990.  He then entered a particularly special part in his life and joined the Sacred Hearts Community.  He stayed for two years, left, and then taught at Harvard Westlake School in Bel Air from 1992 to 1994.  Finally, a job opened at Damien and once again, he returned to teach.  During this time, Mr. Pearsall earned his teaching credential from ULV, a Master of Science degree in Educational Administration at Cal State Fullerton, and a second Masters degree in math from Cal. State San Bernardino.  From 1994 to this present day, Mr. Pearsall has dedicated his time and effort to the Damien community.  While he has taught almost every math class from Algebra to Differential Equations, Mr. Pearsall has sought to improve Damien High School in every aspect of its being.

Several of the noticeable changes that have occurred at Damien from his time as a student to his time as an administrator have been brought about by his own work.  For example, while Damien has increased in size, it has also become better academically.  Mr. Pearsall has seen the introduction of over 20 new A.P. classes and has seen Damien excel in the fine arts, band, and drama programs.  While he has expanded the number of students taking A.P. math courses, he has also been very successful through his A.P. Calculus BC class.  Several years he achieved a 100 percent pass rate on the exam.

Mr. Pearsall commented that being elected into the Damien Hall of Fame was, “quite an honor.”  He stated, “I never thought I would be elected into it because of the fact I’ve never felt I’ve done anything extraordinary.  I appreciate the honor, but I wasn’t expecting it.”