What is a story, happy or otherwise, that you remember that you feel made you into the person you are today?

“A story that I really look back on from my life that made me into who I am today is when my grandfather died freshman year. I remember…it’s a big deal to me because it was much more of a self esteem gain for me. At his funeral, I went up and spoke in front of around 500 people about him and what he had done in his life and such. It was just a really moving time for me.”

Do you value your successes or failures more? Why?

“I’m kind of in between. I probably like successes more, but I’m not gonna like…if people come up to talk to me and all that stuff, I’m not really going to say anything and I think failures are nice because I think they make you feel like you need to change or something.”

Is there something that you feel you were meant to do or be?

“Umm…not quite yet. It probably has something to do with an art area or with like seeing the world or something like that.”

What drives you to do better at something?

“Usually having a lot of friends around can help, or just dreaming about it or seeing it being played in your head and hoping for that to happen.”

Do you consider yourself the hero or the villain in your story?

“I’m probably both to be honest because there are moments where I want to see people fail although I like them and there are moments where I want to succeed.”

What are you holding onto that you feel you need to let go of?

“My ex.”

When did you last push the boundaries of your comfort zone?

“That’s a really hard question.”

Well, you spoke at Senior Dinner. How was that? 

“Oh yeah. Well so, I guess one of the moments where I pushed my self, the most recent would be during this summer when I went up to Birmingham, Alabama, and like met a few people and just like kind of talked and everything and we had known each other for a while, but like hadn’t…I guess it was like a pen-pal. So, I got like really close to someone and like I had never imagined something like that would be able to happen.”

Are you sincere when you talk to other people or are you just being diplomatic?

“I’m probably more sincere than diplomatic. I just don’t like politics.”

What impact do you want to leave on the world?

“If I could leave an impact on the world it would be like for people to feel things or to understand others much more in a way than to only see things in black and white. I want people to see things as one and to understand others and connect with emotions, I guess.”

Is there something you wished everyone knew about you?

“I’m a bit shy.”