(from left to right, top row to bottom) Amy O’Connor, Lucia Pirone, Quinn Deeming - Interviews Conducted by Phoebe Shin and Celia Lehmann Duke
This week, your Humans of CPS Team interviewed three lovely seniors— Amy, Lucia, and Quinn — for our ninth week of Seniors of CPS interviews. Some were interviewed in sunny living rooms right after school, others in quiet bedrooms before lunch! These interviews include responses to various questions designed to help you get to know our seniors a bit better and to give you some insight into their memories from the past four years at College Prep. We hope you enjoy!
Q: What is something unique about you/a fun fact that your classmates might not know?
Amy: I’m a black belt in Taekwondo, which I don’t think many people know? Cooking is also one of my favorite things ever, and one of my big life goals is to travel abroad and cook in a bunch of different countries, because for me, food is such a big means of connection. So I would love to go to Italy and learn how to make pasta, then go learn how to make Turkish food, and all sorts of food from all over the world— because American food is a bit boring— and there are so many things to eat and so many things to learn, and I just love cooking.
Lucia: A fun fact about me is that I actually used to do synchronized swimming, and I know a lot of people know that I do regular speed swimming now, but I did synchronized swimming for 4 years when I was younger, and I almost made the national team at one point. But then I switched to regular swimming, and I love that too!
Quinn: I think a lot of my friends already know this, but I lived overseas for a few years. One friend didn’t actually realize I had lived there, and one time he just said, “oh I thought you had spent a really influential summer in Tokyo,” but I lived there for five years. I lived there and Singapore and Hong Kong. It’s cool because one of my other friends also lived in Tokyo and I talk to her about it sometimes, and we found out we went to the same park when we were little.
Q: What is one word you would use to describe your four years at College Prep?
Amy: Extreme! *laughs* There was no moderation at CPS— the best moments were really good, and the hard moments were really hard. But I think maybe “extreme transformation” would be a better way of putting it, because 4 years is such a short period of time, but I’ve been thinking a lot about who I was my freshman year, and it’s so cool to see how so much of who I am is so different. So I think extreme transformation is fitting, but also with the understanding that most transformation doesn’t come easily; CPS has been very intense, but also very powerful for personal growth. And I think this isn’t just for me— everyone around me has grown so much. It’s a great environment for long-term development, and every aspect of CPS pushes you to understand what you value, and who you value, and how you want to spend your time. And I think being surrounded by people who are so driven and talented also just pushes you to grow as a person, which is really cool.
Lucia: I would say…fast-paced, for both the learning, obviously, but also in terms of the way I made friendships and connected with people.
Quinn: Overwhelming, but not necessarily in a bad way. I learned a lot, both in class and especially experience-wise, and about relationships and stuff. It was a really fast four years.
Q: How would you describe your four years at College Prep and the people that you spent those four years with?
Amy: I think it’s really cool to see the people who have remained important in my life throughout my four years, because I have a lot of friends that I’ve been friends with from the first day, and still am. And I’ve met a lot of people since then, like, even last semester I’ve gotten closer to a lot more people, which is really great, but it’s also just so cool to see how people that I met when we were 13 or 14 still remain such an integral part of my life. And I think the people in general— both the teachers and the students, and everyone in the CPS community is really what makes this community so special, which is very cliché, but it’s the truth. It’s been amazing to see people grow from the beginning, and it’s so inspiring to see. And even though I do still think my four years at CPS have been extreme, I think it was the right choice to come here and be pushed in every way— I think it’s a really good experience for people. That’s not super wise, but that’s just my hot take!
Lucia: I definitely don’t regret going to CPS— my parents can attest to the fact that I was not super thrilled to be going here in the first place, because I was like, “no, it’s going to be work all the time,” but it’s really has been such a great environment. And I haven’t been doing work all the time like I thought I would, which has been nice.
Quinn: I guess light enlightening or eye-opening or something like that. I changed a lot, as you do over four years, and I learned a lot about myself and other people.
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