Interview conducted by Sofia R.
1:07 p.m: It’s a fairly ordinary H-block on an abnormally warm mid-autumn day as I meet Mimi by the stairs that lead to the library. We walk down the stairs to the bench near Chabon’s office overlooking the courtyard, taking in an unusual sight of serenity. Mimi is dressed in a variety of blue and cream, accessorized with gold necklaces and pastel hoop earrings. After talking a bit about the format of the interview, I click record. Welcome Mimi. The interview has begun.
Sofia: I guess we'll start with the first question. What is something you're passionate about?
Mimi: I'm really passionate about helping animals, which is sort of what my senior project is about. So like volunteering, particularly the animals that need help, like animals in shelters or on the street. So just volunteering at animal shelters, and my senior project is sort of about spreading awareness about how people can help and get involved with helping animals and donating. Like, there's so much you can donate to help animals that’s not money. So yeah, I'm really passionate about it.
Sofia: Do you have any pets?
Mimi: I have two dogs, which explains it. (laughs) Yeah, I've just sort of always had a lot of dogs. So, I have two dogs. And then I also have a gecko, which is not related to animal welfare, but yeah!
Sofia: Okay. What’s one of your favorite songs?
Mimi: Oh my gosh. Okay, well, I love Taylor Swift. So I'm gonna say Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift. Definitely one of my favorite songs. I mean, I have a lot of other artists that I listen to. But yeah, that's definitely one of my favorites.
Sofia: Awesome! What's one item on your bucket list?
Mimi: I feel– can I say one item that was on my bucket list that I've done?
Sofia: Sure!
Mimi: It was like, I really wanted to get on the Jumbotron, particularly because I love baseball, so I wanted to at a baseball game. And I did, but not because of me, it was because my brother was dancing next to me. So it was like, it was him, but I was there also. So I did. So that counts!
Sofia: Is there anything you want to do in the future?
Mimi: Um, oh my gosh, I feel like there's stuff and I just can't think of it, because I always think about how I did that, and like, that was good. I can't think of anything right now. Maybe I'll think of it while we're talking.
Sofia: Okay! Yeah. These questions are deeper, I guess. How have you changed during your time at College Prep?
Mimi: How have I changed? Okay. I think I've changed a lot with being open-minded, and like, particularly open-minded about putting pressure on myself. And I feel like that's something that a lot of people can say after going through CPS, that it’s really hard to be a perfectionist here because it's hard to be perfect. Like, yeah, it's just hard. And so it's hard to put that standard on yourself. And so I feel like I definitely did much more coming into CPS and I wanted to do everything perfectly. But then, just sort of like over my time here, I realized that it's not really helpful because it's not achievable. And so then it's just like, putting extra stress on myself that's not helpful. So just sort of getting away from that a little bit and just knowing that I feel like I always tried to tell myself that doing your best effort is enough and that's how you know you succeeded but then I was always like, but I want to do it perfectly. But now I feel like I really believe that more, putting in your best effort is really how you do the best you can do, and like you can't do any better than that, obviously.
Sofia: Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, last one. What's one of your favorite College Prep memories?
Mimi: Um, honestly, it was probably this past spirit week that just happened. Like I know I've had a lot of memories over four years, but that was honestly probably my favorite if not my favorite. It was just like, being a senior during spirit week is really fun, and I felt like my class was super spirited and really connected, especially like Friday, like the color day and all the activities being that connected and doing all the activities was really fun. Probably one of my favorite memories.
Sofia: What do you think changed being a senior during the spirit week?
Mimi: Um, I don't know how to describe it because it's our last spirit week. Like, you have this week every year and I mean, I guess we have the spring one, but it's our last color spirit week. And so I feel like there's just a sense between everyone of like, we just wanted to like everyone in our class, just wanting to have fun, like, give everything they had to their last spirit week. And so that energy was just, super fun to be in and, we're just gonna, like, have so much-, it was just so much fun. I don't know, like a last hurrah. It was really fun. And yeah, I feel like that's what changed, just the energy of like, we're gonna give it all our energy because it's like our last time, I think.
(admission tour enters courtyard)
Sofia: Perfect timing! Thank you.
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