A Tropical Traveler

[If I could visit any three places they would be] Hawaii, Ibiza, probably, and then Greece.

They’re all kind of tropical and have beaches and I love the beach.[The farthest away I’ve been] from America was Iran because I lived there. We just moved this year. School is the most different thing because [in Iran] the schools are separated, like girls have different schools than boys. There are tropical places in the southern part [of Iran] but it’s not a tropical place in general.

Lights, Camera, Talent!

When I was little, I used to play the flute, but I don’t anymore. I used to like music a lot and I tried different instruments but I only stuck with the flute. We had classes at school, so we started it [from] first grade till fifth grade. Then I finished it, like there weren’t any more levels to go, so I just stopped. I tried the guitar and violin but I didn’t like them.  I like all kinds of music, but I don’t like jazz or country[…] My favorite band is Coldplay and [my favorite songs are] “Oh” and “Fly on”. I like writing, I’m not really good at art. I’m okay at the crafts and stuff, but not drawing. But I love writing, not journalism that much, because I don’t like interviewing people that much. I like to write what I think. I don’t write as a hobby but like, when I have to do it as homework I really like doing it. It’s my favorite. Probably, I would [join] a drama club or something because I really like drama […] as well. In Iran there were like state competitions, and I got second place, I think, in one of the plays we did. I don’t remember the name, but I was an old lady and, like, really cranky.

Diving Deeper

I might try out for the swim team when the season’s here. I’ve been doing it since kindergarten and I got my lifeguard thing in middle school. I can’t do CPR, but I had to be able to get people out of the water and if they, like, sunk, I had to be able to get them up and stuff.

Making A Difference

I’m in the American Red Cross Club […]One of my friends in my aerobics class told me about it, and she was like ‘it would really look good on a college application’ and I wanted to do something to  help the community. I heard about the storm or the flood that happened in Florida and so I wanted to help out […] so I joined. [In the club] we volunteer to help places that have been affected by natural disasters and […] we raise money. We had this thing that we did at ‘the Habit’, like anyone who had a flyer they would go there, and if they bought something, like a percentage [of the] money would go to the storm in Florida right now, so we would give out the flyers to people. Mr. Valentine, he was also giving extra credit to people who were actually going there. It’s really great [to be in this club] because you feel like you’re actually doing something to help those people. [The people in the club] are all really nice and they really help you out. Like, I just joined the club like a week and a half ago, but they were so nice and they wanted to help me out and everything. They explained the club, and we did trust exercises and bonding exercises. It was really cool.

An Interest in Law

I really love law and the subject of, like, everything about law and […] I’d love to, like have my first jury duty and stuff. Since I was in, like second grade, my dad kept telling me that […] if I didn’t find myself well, I should definitely think about law […] He told me that he liked someone in the Parliament or something, and he was like ‘you could be her in the future’. Then I started watching a lot of […] TV shows, and the lawyers are really cool, and I got interested in it. 

by Cat Tak