Lights, Camera, SMILE!

One of my earliest memories of Sam Bauman is when our freshman dormitory held a “Christmas hall decorating contest” between the 3 floors of our building. Our 1st floor hallway decided to showcase both the winter snow of the Christmas season and the real reason for the season, Jesus. Our hall decorations included a ‘live nativity’ scene, where Sam portrayed Mary. The judges LOVED our hallway’s unity and we won the contest! The prize was a pizza party for all the guys on your floor, but you’d swear we all won an Oscar when it was announced we were the winners!

Sam has a very inviting & genuine personality that allows someone to instantly become comfortable when talking with him. His comedic skills paired with his calm demeanor makes him a great guy to be around. I am thankful to call Sam my friend and am super happy for his post-college endeavors. Sam is currently a TV-6 morning anchor for WLUC-TV in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Here is Sam’s #SmileStory:

I’m not quite sure which category my #SmileStory exactly fits in; perhaps none, perhaps all of them. For me, my smile is not only something that necessarily comes out of joy but something I have to use as a tool for my career.

I am a morning anchor for a local news station in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. My daily routine isn’t too typical: it involves a bedtime around 7pm (later on wild nights) and waking up right around 2am for work each day. Having been here two years I have gotten somewhat used to it, somehow. My job though, aside from delivering the news, is helping people wake up and start their day, hopefully in a good mood. That means, for me and our viewers, a smile goes a long way and is a tool I use every single day on air. There are plenty of days when maybe I’m tired, frustrated, annoyed, just all around not in the mood to put on a smile…but, when that red light comes on each morning it’s show time and that means turning on my smile even when I don’t want to. Some days the news may be grim or sad, but I take it upon myself (along with my coworkers) to find a way to remind people it’s all going to be ok; and sometimes the words are difficult to find so I’ve learned when all else fails, SMILE.

Through my time at the station and even my college years on the stage (with Chris), I know how to turn on the smile for the show and something greater than myself. I’ve found if you smile enough during tough times it makes it pretty hard to have a bad day. No matter how long or short my career is, I hope at the end *if* people remember anything about me it’s that I helped them start the day with a smile even when it’s negative 30 degrees outside. Use your smile every day, especially when you don’t want to, it’ll have an impact on more than just yourself.

Do you ever smile early in the morning?

#Happiness #Positivity #Joy #NYCSmile4Me #ChrisBohinski #BohtheSmileGuy #SmileStory