When Camil Samaha moved from Lebanon in October 1983, his country was amidst a civil war. He came to America looking for safety in a time of distress, and he came without looking back. At just fourteen years old, he enrolled himself at Broughton High School in Raleigh, and devoted his time to learning his third language after French and Arabic, English. His dad wasn’t able to leave his job in Europe, and his mom split her time between Europe, Lebanon, and the United States, so Camil and his siblings often had to fend for themselves. In order to pay for food and rent, he got his first job at a pizza parlor at the age of fifteen. Throughout high school, Camil balanced school, work, and keeping up with his family far and wide, and was immensely successful in all respects. Camil attended North Carolina State University after high school, and received both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Science. Alongside his graduate studies, Camil also worked tirelessly towards earning his United States citizenship in the late 1980’s. While working in Washington, DC at his first real job, he met and fell in love with his future wife, Kathryn. Later, with the help of his brother, he created his own Information Technology Company in North Carolina called Intrex. In 2017, Camil has sold his business and become a senior manager at Amazon back in the DC Area. He and Kathryn also have two children, named Julia and Joseph. Despite all that Camil has been through, he goes through life with a smile, and is genuinely one of the nicest people I have ever met. I am truly lucky that Mr. Samaha is an American, because had he not been, I would have never known his daughter Julia, who is one of my closest friends. He never took the easy route, and with hard work and dedication, Camil was able to become successful in every sense of the word.
