Take a cup of sugar, two cups flour, a pinch of cinnamon, and some time spent in the classrooms of WVU Potomac State College, and you just might have the recipe for a popular and even delicious business.
Sam Tichnell, owner of Sam’s Sweets in Westernport and a 2021 graduate of PSC, is celebrating five years in business. She credits her education and experiences at the College as the secret ingredient to her success.
Tichnell opened her location at 202 Main Street when she turned 22, just a month after her commencement from PSC, where she received her bachelor’s degree in business. She admits the degree is what she needed to learn to run her own bakery.
“That was the part I needed to learn, and Potomac State College gave me not only the education and taught me what I had to learn, but it also provided me with marketing and relationships,” she said. “People I went to school with and my former teachers and instructors and administrators at the college are now my regular customers at the bakery.”
In fact, Tichnell tells a story about a former professor who stopped in for a baked good and asked her advice on what tie he should wear that evening to impress his date.
“That is what Potomac State College did for me,” she said. “It gave me the education and the degree, but it also started building relationships. And those relationships exist to this day. It was the business side of things that I learned at PSC, but now I think I have made cakes and cupcakes and donuts and cookies for nearly every department there. All my business professors still come by. It’s just been a lot of wonderful connections.:
Tichnell is happy to share her memories of her days at PSC. Even though it has only been five years since she wore the gold and blue mortarboard, she still reflects on her studies as a growing and learning period,
“For the first year I was on campus, I didn’t make friends. I didn’t get involved, and to be honest, I didn’t think college was for me,” she said. “I was in the business club, but I would still take my breaks and eat inside my own car. I figured college was not where I would make friends.”
And then she did. Because no other electives were open, and she needed a course, she opted for a course from the agricultural department. That class later required her to “manually inspect a cow” to see if she could tell it was expecting a calf. Tichnell said after that experience, she was glad she was not an agricultural major. But what also came of that was that she was invited to join the student ag club.
“Once I joined that club and got involved on campus, everything changed,” she said. “Then I did everything and met everyone, and it turned out to be a great experience. So, I would tell new students coming to campus, don’t sit in your car, and don’t drive home right after campus if you commute. Stick around. Join a club. Get involved. The people you meet on campus are the people you need to network with, and those connections will become important after college.”
A graduate of Southern High School in Garrett County, Tichnell said when she thought about a location for her physical business, Westernport became an obvious choice – even if some of her early naysayers questioned the choice.
“My decision to locate here was mainly based on the weather,” she joked. “But I also wanted to be in an area central to everyone. I am close to Keyser and to my connections on campus. I am a short drive from Cumberland and a short ride to Oakland.”
Tichnell said she wanted Sam’s Sweets to be a midway point in a country location that was accessible and approachable to customers.
“People told me I should open this bakery at Deep Creek Lake, but Deep Creek Lake has become so expensive,” she said. “I didn’t want to charge $15 for a cupcake. And I honestly didn’t want my bakery to seem too bougie.”
In the last half a decade since opening, Sam’s Sweets has made the list of “Favorite Bakeries” in various community polls. The bakery was named Favorite Bakery and Favorite Pastries two years in a row in the “Best of Garrett” contest, best pepperoni rolls and best donuts in the Best of Mineral County contest, and was a finalist two years in a row in the Best of Allegany poll.
Tichnell said she has made baked goods – particularly cookies – her "whole life.”
“I don’t remember an age where I didn’t know how to bake,” she said. “I think my mom and I must have made thousands of Christmas cookies. My grandmother was the one who made and decorated cakes. My Dad used to take orders for our cookies and then deliver them all over.”
Tichnell was also a student at Southern’s culinary program, where the chef at the time allowed her to run the baking station because no one else on staff or in the student body had an interest in baking. In fact, her bond with her former high school remained so secure that when her business was flooded in May of 2025, while she remediated her business and removed mud, dirt, and debris from “everywhere in this place,” she was able to fulfill special orders for weddings and other celebrations by a special arrangement with the commercial kitchen at Southern. She continued to do that until her Westernport location was cleared by the health department after all the cleaning had been done.
“Five years ago, at 22, people thought I was crazy. They said, ‘You really want to open a bakery at 22 and I said, ‘Yes, I really want a bakery at 22,” she said. “It has exceeded what I thought I would do. I have retail stores that sell my baked goods, and I partner with a local restaurant, and all their desserts are my desserts.”
Tichnell said one of her favorite rewards is being able to be her “own boss” and set her own hours.
“It’s nice to be able to do your own thing and be in charge creatively. No one is going to tell me that 260 cupcake flavors are too many flavors, but that’s what I offer. I can take my vacation when I want to.”
But the other side of that coin is the other list of responsibilities that come with owning her own business and being the sole proprietor.
“It’s hard to take a sick day just because I don’t feel like working that day,” she said. “You have to have passion for what you do to own your own business. I am usually here 15 hours a day. I open every day at 6 and close at 2. And sometimes I stay until 9 or 10 at night just to get orders done. And I have to realize, as a small business owner, when I say it’s all mine, it’s all mine. The responsibility is all mine, the baking is all mine, the selling is all mine, the paperwork is all mine, the social media is all mine.”
Celebrating her fifth year in business has also given Tichnell time to reflect. What would “sweeten” the deal, so she keeps doing this profession for years and years to come?
“I have a few things in mind,” she said. “I want to see where it goes. I’d love to one day renovate a horse trailer and have a mobile bakery I could take to fairs and festivals. I’d also, at some point, like to have a bigger location.”
And since “confection” is good for the soul, where does Tichnell see herself when she is 35 or 40-years old?
“I will probably expand at some point when I’m ready and when the business is ready,” she said. “I’m not in a big rush right now. I am enjoying where I am in the moment. But one day I will probably expand, sure. We will just have to wait and see where it goes.”