| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | I can clearly remember the first time I rode my bike without training wheels. I recall pedaling slowly, my father beside me telling me it would be alright. My arms shook with nerves and under me the bike trembled. After a minute I finally started pedaling faster. My dad sprinted beside me with a supportive hand to keep me upright. Then suddenly, I was on my own zooming down the sidewalk. I’ll never forget the feeling of the wind against my face. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | I relate with my sister the most. Even though she is seven years older than me, we have always had a healthy sibling rivalry. In school she set the precedent of being a star student, which pushed me to be a better one. We both got the best mixture of our parents’ traits: our dad’s big dreams and our mom’s practical planning. As a result, we both have quite a bucket list. Whenever we are in the same room, we quickly turn to discussing the most recent bucket list item we have crossed off and which one is next. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | I admire passion. Passion is glorious. I adore listening to people talk about their passions and how when they get to talking this infectious, unconscious smile blossoms on their face. It’s impossible not to be drawn in and inspired. The only trait better than passion is when passion is blended with honesty. I admire those who can be themselves and pursue their passions regardless of what anyone around them says, believes, or does. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | It was not funny at the time to me, but I have come to laugh along with the stories. I was about five years old, and my parents took me to the nearby park with a playground. I was running and playing like a five-year-old when I looked over and saw my family sitting at a park table getting out some lunch. I rushed over and sat down, and it was only as I was reaching for a sandwich that I realized it was not my parents. I just looked up at these two strangers in complete shock. Somehow my mom appeared and saved me from the awkward situation, but it is a running joke in my family that I might just mistake another family for my own. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | I would love to visit New Zealand. I am a Lord of the Rings fan and fell in love with landscape when I first saw the movies. I am amazed at the geographic diversity found on two relatively small islands. I’ve been told the best way to see New Zealand is in a campervan, so I would leisurely drive through the country, stopping at anything and everything exciting from the mountains to the beaches to the fields to the forests. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | I would want them to know that all you have to do in this life is to be yourself. You don’t need to be afraid or ashamed of the books you want to read, the sports you want to play, the dreams you want to pursue. We all like different things, and everything is cool or rewarding or exciting to someone. So be yourself. Be completely and unapologetically yourself. |
