Women of Sentry: Samantha Dutch
March 3, 2021
MOON TOWNSHIP — When going to certain universities across the country, it can be tough to fit in right away and make your mark on a program. New students often struggle to get a hands-on learning experience in their first few semesters, especially in the media arts and journalism fields. For freshman Samantha Dutch, she wasted no time making an impact on RMU Sentry Media.
In her second semester, Dutch has already presumed several roles across the Sentry Media landscape, including a new role as the social media director for the student-run media outlet.
The Digital Cinema and Television major jumped on the opportunity to join the editorial board after learning of the position’s availability. She felt comfortable taking charge of the job due to past experiences with leading social media platforms.
“I knew I wanted to do something, but I didn’t know what. I didn’t want to do anything with writing or anything big like that yet, so I thought social media would be fun,” Dutch said. “I did something like that for high school for our musical social media.”
Through the early experiences at Robert Morris, Dutch showcases her diligence and dedication towards her future endeavors. Dutch credits a lot of her hard work and passion for the media arts to two powerful women in her life.
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Despite not having any siblings growing up, Dutch’s cousin Emily played an instrumental role in her life, helping establish her digital cinema interest.
“Emily has always been my personal role model. I didn’t have any siblings growing up, so her and I have always been close, and she’s always been like my sister just helping me with everything I need,” Dutch said. “She got me into the media arts as she’s a big video person.”
While not having any siblings, Dutch has grown close with her mother, where she finds a lot of her inspiration.
“One of the things I admire about her is her creativity and her heart for everything she does,” Dutch said. “She really cares a lot about everything she does.”
In her second semester, Dutch has already fulfilled an editorial position, but she is also involved in writing for Sentry Media and Colonial Sports Network. She has also made her presence known in RMU-TV, filling several positions, including an on-air personality for “Sports Talk In The Burgh” and “Colonial Sports Center,” serves as the assistant producer for “RMU Extra,” and a handful of other roles on a variety of shows.
It is common for a first-year student in RMU-TV to become involved behind the scenes, but making an appearance on air can be a leap of faith. However, Dutch decided to go for it only after her first week on campus.
“It snowballed from when I came to the retreat. I was practicing being talent for one of the sports shows, and then everyone was like ‘oh talent,’ and I didn’t think about talent at that point. I went for it, and whenever signups came out, I threw down talent for those shows,” Dutch said.
While Dutch expressed interest in being an on-air personality for several shows, she does admit that joining a male-dominated talent poll was not easy, but she has enjoyed the experience.
“It’s fun to add a new face and a new vibe to things, but it’s definitely intimidating,” Dutch said.
Another way Dutch also relates to her mom is by way of working through environments that are heavily masculine-oriented.
“She has also worked in a lot of male-heavy environments with accounting, but she holds her own,” Dutch said.
At Robert Morris, and throughout her life, Dutch has seen obstacles women face when in a majority male setting, but personally, she has not faced any hurdles up to this point in her life due to her being a woman.
In her area of study, Dutch does feel that women tend to have a difficult path and emphasizes the importance of Women’s History Month.
“In general, in this field, I feel being in film is hard for a woman to prove that she can do all the jobs that a man can,” Dutch said. “I think it’s important to pay respect to everything that women do because they get pushed to the side a lot of times.”
