What’s your favorite memory from CPS?
“Oh gosh. I guess… I think my favorite memory would be during my sophomore year, after the musical. That whole entire process was super fun for me, and it was an awesome time. I think closing night of that show was especially a good memory because a bunch of my closest friends were seniors that year and so it was my last show with them. We were all super sad and crying but it was also super sweet because we finally finished this crazy show that had so much going on in it. So I guess that was kind of my fondest memory.”
Who’s the most influential person in your life?
“I think… my mom. She’s just always there for me she always understands what I’m going through and is ready to listen. If I’m having a tough time and I want some space she’s able to give that to me, but if I want to talk she’s always there for advice. I feel like I can always trust her judgment and she always knows what is best.”
Tell me about your pet(s).
“Okay, I have two dogs, Olaf and Beau. People always say that I like Olaf more than I like Beau. That’s not true, but they always call me out for that. I’ve had Olaf since he was a baby. We got him when he was like 3 months old, I got him in sixth grade, and he’s really small and fluffy and awesome. Then Beau is actually my grandfather’s dog but we adopted him after my grandfather passed away, so we’ve had him for quite a few years now. They’re both just really cute and happy and fun. Beau’s more chill than Olaf–Olaf is kind of crazy sometimes–but I do love them both, equally.”
Has someone ever saved your life?
“I mean, I don’t think so, not in the way that’s like, ‘I was about to die,’ or something. Not quite, but I feel like there are people throughout my life who have been really important in wanting me to stay there for them and with them.”
What are you most proud of?
“I think that I am proud…honestly, I think just the friends I’ve made in my time in high school. They’re all so important to me and I’m really proud that I was able to, like, find these people and become friends with them and even maintain those friendships after, if they graduated or moved somewhere…. That can be really really hard, but it’s worked out for a lot of them. That’s something that I’m proud of because it’s so important to me, just having those friends.”
What is something you want to leave behind at CPS?
“I think something I want to leave behind is just any feelings that are negative that I have with people or that people have toward me, that sort of stuff. I don’t know, it’s sad. It’s our last year, might as well let them go. Some stuff might have happened like two years ago and people still have ill feelings. At this point, I just want to forgive and forget and just move on. So that’s something that’s really important to me–just letting go of those sorts of things.”
What’s a story you tell that no one believes?
“Do I have a story that no one believes? What’s my craziest story? Oh, that’s a good question. Let’s see. It’s not very crazy, it’s just funny. There was this one time, I was taking a train by myself and I was going to go meet my parents. I had to catch this train, and I was running a little bit late and I had never been there before, I had no idea where I was going. I was like, ‘Ah crap, where’s the station?’ I was running around, and I finally find the place that the train is leaving at but it’s right about to leave. So I’m running up the staircase toward the train, and right when I get to the top I trip and fall at my face and the train conductor is just standing there and staring at me through the windows, and he’s just so disappointed. It’s like, ‘Hurry up, come on, what are you doing, you’re just lying on the floor!’ and I’m like, ‘This is just the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done.’ But I made it!”
What’s your favorite place in the world?
“I love… where is my favorite place in the world? Honestly, I really like being… this sounds stupid, but… the College Prep campus can just sometimes be so nice because that’s just where all my… where I’ve had so many good memories…. Well, okay, it’s not my favorite place if it’s deserted, but when there are people there and school’s in session and everything’s good, that’s honestly one of my favorite places just to be around everyone–and it’s really pretty, too.”
What’s your favorite book of all time?
“I’m looking at my bookshelf right now. I really… it’s not a single book, but it’s a series… I like the Redwall series a lot. It was one of the first long fantasy series I started reading and, I don’t know, I just really fell in love with it. It was really well written in a way that I felt like I was just in the world of these animals and their crazy lives. And it’s such a saga and my favorite way to transport myself somewhere else was just reading the Redwall books. I still have all of them and [I have ones] I just reread all the time because the stories are so compelling. They’re kind of mysteries but they’re also adventure stories. It’s just such a good series.”
If I asked you at age 5 what you wanted to be when you grew up, what would you say?
“I’m pretty sure I said…there’s, like, a video of me saying this somewhere. I was like, ‘I want to be–’I think it was–‘a veterinarian princess.’ I wanted to help animals but also get to hang out with them on a farm and then I also wanted to be a princess at the same time.”
What’s something you want to do before you graduate college?
“I…hm… that’s a good question, actually. I feel like I want to… I want to travel somewhere with my friends, somewhere around the world, sort of like going abroad… Just going somewhere with my friends by ourselves and just having a really, really good time and then come back. I feel like a really good time to do that is in college because afterwards you have work, and it just gets harder.”
What’s your biggest regret from your time at CPS?
“Okay, so I typically tend to put myself out there a lot–like I’m a pretty ‘I’m here I do things’ sort of person, but sometimes I feel like I don’t…I haven’t always taken enough time to sit with myself and be like, ‘What do I actually want to do? What do I actually want to get out of my life?’ I think that would have been a nice thing to do at school. I was always really busy with being there for my friends and doing stuff for them and not always being like, ‘Is this helpful for me? Is this a good thing for me?’ So I think just always taking time for myself instead of always asking how can I please others and make other people happy and do things for other people. [Then] I can enjoy the moment more and not just be like, ‘Let me make sure they enjoy it before I do.’”
Who’s your favorite musical artist?
“Taylor swift. People flame me for that but I like her music a lot because I feel like it always… there’s always a song that matches my mood and I just know all of them now and I can always just scream along with them in my car and it’s very fun. I feel like the lyrics are really interesting and just the stuff that she does with her life… I really enjoy learning about that because she tries to do a lot of good but people just **** on her for that. They don’t always understand… they don’t always see certain aspects of her, and I really like that she does what she wants and does what she loves regardless of the hate.”
What’s a skill you wish you could have?
“I wish that I was able to write better. Some people are really good at writing and it’s just…whenever they write it just sounds so poetic and really interesting and well thought out. I’m not a horrible writer. I can write things well, but I always wish I had that skill to somehow just think of things. Even, like, songwriting– I want to have words come out of my brain and make them sound really good and make a lot of sense and speak to people.”
If there is one thing that you think everyone should know about you, what would it be?
“I guess just… that I like talking to people. So it’s like, if even if I don’t know you, I’m always down to talk and hang out and meet new people and have conversations.”
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