My name is Sam Chamberlain and my magic name is AlakaSam.  I am a professional magician, balloon twister, scientist and educator.  I live, perform and teach in the Seattle area.  I have a degree in Education & Natural Resources from Cornell University.   I have taught high school math in the US Virgin Islands, worked as an observer aboard fishing boats in the Bering Sea, taught marine biology in the Florida Keys and Seattle, and was a science outreach educator with the Pacific Science Center in Seattle for 24 years.  

I started studying and practicing magic when I was 10 years old, working as an apprentice magician for five years at Howard’s House of Hocus Pocus in Buffalo, New York.  I was the assistant to the shop’s owner at magic performances and demonstrated and sold magic tricks to customers.  While at Cornell University, I completed an epistemological study of magic and developed a magic course curriculum that I have since taught many times. 

After teaching math, science and magic for more than 30 years, in 2017 I became a full-time professional magician and magic instructor.  I teach the mechanics and psychology of magic performance and students gain experience practicing and performing for me and their classmates. The boost in self-confidence and self-esteem that accompanies a student's successful magic performance is both rewarding and heart warming.  I am excited to work with Outschool and look forward to sharing the skills and fun of magic with your kids!