| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | My group and I were camping in the northern tier of Minnesota for a scouting expedition. We were sitting around the fire one night, chatting and eating our rehydrated MRE's, when, in a fitting instance of 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' the jokester of our group saw something happening in the corner of his eye and stood up and pointed his spork behind all of us. He cries out, "HOLY ****! THERE’S A BEAR RIGHT THERE!" None of us believed him because he'd been making jokes like that all trip. He said again, "I'm not kidding. There's a bear RIGHT THERE! And he's eating our chips!" That got us all to turn around and see a juvenile brown bear with its head in a bag of family sized Lay's not 10 feet away from where we were sitting. We all screamed and made loud noises to scare it away and it scurried off. However, this bear was not very afraid of people, so it kept coming back every hour or so to try and sneak more food. By about 1 a.m. we were all taking shifts to shoo the bear away, and our guide decided to throw in the towel and relocate us to a different location far away from our new friend. Quite the experience for a 14-year-old. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | I identify most with my brother. We grew up doing almost the exact same things and we still have the same interests. We both played soccer and we both still play games with each other. I wish we saw each other more often since we can just talk and talk and talk. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | I admire honesty, genuineness, courtesy, and awareness. It's one thing to appreciate someone who is authentic but it’s another thing to be authentic and aware. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | At Disney World, my entire family and I had just settled into our teeny tiny hotel room from the night and my dear dad was trying to explain our itinerary for the next day. We three kids were all changing channels on the TV, trying to find an interesting show to watch. Even my mother just wanted to watch something funny after a stressful day, so we were all just ignoring him. After being ignored for long enough, my father snapped and said, "You guys are really starting to piss me off!" in his parenting voice. It was so funny to hear him try to be serious in that moment that we all still quote that at him when someone is trying to be serious in a not so serious moment. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | I would go back to the Bahamas. I once went on a 6-man sailboat in the Bahamas for about a week and a half of sailing around, swimming, diving, tanning, and lounging. To this day I still remember how warm the water was. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | I hope to pass on the knowledge that I've learned of myself and those before me. There's a phrase, "Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name." I won’t forget about the wonderful experiences I've had with my family and ancestors, and I hope that my descendants won't too. |
