Jasper V., Senior — Interview conducted by Angela Wang
Thursday, March 9th, 2023, 11:54: It’s a beautiful day outside, sunny and crowded before the student commons. I wave my interviewee over and we settle into a bench overlooking the courtyard. I click record. “Welcome, Jasper.” The interview has begun…
Angela: Imagine you could choose only one song to play every time you walk. What song it would be?
Jasper: "93 ‘Til Infinity by Souls of Mischief". It's a hip-hop song. It’s like the performance part of bedrock of hip-hop. It was released a couple of decades ago. I love that song—it’s really fantastic.
Angela: What is something unique about you that your classmates might not know?
Jasper: Here's what I think only one or two people know: I used to be a competitive figure skater.
Angela: No way!
Jasper: Yeah, it’s very different from the type of athletic side I uhh…
Angela: What do you do now?
Jasper: I do lifting.
Angela: Oh, well, that's very different.
Jasper: Yeah, but I also play golf for fun.
Angela: Are you on the team?
Jasper: I'm new. I didn't grow up playing golf but I just joined.
Angela: Wow! I've done figure skating before too. And I feel like balance obviously is a big part of it. It's like, I've never gotten to the actual twirling-in-the-air stuff. Have you done that before?
Jasper: Yeah.
Angela: Oh, so you were like, really dedicated!
Jasper: Where did you practice?
Angela: Dublin Iceland. Yeah, what about you?
Jasper: Oakland.
Angela: Why did you stop?
Jasper: I got to the point where if I were to prove myself anymore, I would have had to dedicate more time to it than I was willing to dedicate. I would have had to do like private lessons, four days a week or something. And I was going into eighth grade at the time too.
Angela: Wow! Ok, Jasper! Looking back at your experience at CPS, what is something you'll never forget?
Jasper: I think Dr. P's Intraterm freshman year—it's called Fish and Chips. We went to Monterey and stayed in a hostel, which was the first hostel I stayed in. He loves whales and fish. So I got to follow him around Monterey and he was like, investing in his passions.
Angela: Right. Did you actually get any fish and chips?
Jasper: Yes.
Angela: So they took you to a restaurant?
Jasper: No, they just gave us money and, like, let us use it. That's why I'll never forget it. It's like the first night, and we were like 13 or 14 at the time. He just like gave us all cash and was like, go get dinner and be back by like 11.
Angela: That's nice. I did something similar my freshman year. We basically went biking around San Francisco, and they gave us pocket money to spend however we wanted to.
Jasper: Yeah.
Angela: All right. What are you looking forward to in the future?
Jasper: I'm really looking forward to college and I'm really looking forward to, like, post-college life as well. I feel like there are so many possibilities and opportunities for what I could end up doing. And where I could end up going. I'm excited to see how it plays out.
Angela: Definitely. What do you think you're gonna do in college?
Jasper: It depends on where I go. If I go to the UK, which is a possibility, I’ll probably do economics and philosophy. And if I stay in the US probably do political science.
Angela: Yeah, they seem pretty closely related. mean, you're the leader of Investment Club, right? It totally makes sense to do economics. Ok, if you say thank you to one room and CPS, which one would it be?
Jasper: Mrs. DeVane’s office. Just got in trouble so much as a freshman.
Angela: Really?
Jasper: *laughs* Just kidding, we have advisory meetings in there. I feel like I've got a lot of good advice.
Angela: Right. I don't think I've ever been in the office.
Jasper: It's really nice. It's like three or four sides of a classroom. It's so much bigger than any of the others. It’s got like couches, many chairs, a meeting table. It's like very pretty.
Angela: Hmm, that’s really nice. All right, our last question is what do you feel like you've accomplished within or outside of CPS?
Jasper: I'm definitely proud of myself for pursuing the interest that I have.
Angela: Right, right. I guess more specifically, what about in terms of one class?
Jasper: I was really thinking outside of class.
Angela: Okay. We can go into that too.
Jasper: I mean, if I were in class, I would probably say like, honestly, like the English courses, like I've just loved reading and writing.
Angela: Okay, nice! All right. Well, it was good talking to you!
Jasper: Yeah, it's so nice to meet you!
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