Q: WHAT IS SOMETHING OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL THAT YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT?
A: I am actually very involved in community service. In May of 2016, I joined the Edison Metro Lions Club, and since then I have attended almost every community service event that they are involved in. While this is partially because I have friends in the club as well and enjoy hanging out with them, a bigger reason is simply being able to tangibly see the results of my actions. Many people don’t contribute much to the general community through things like donations or such because they never end up seeing the end result. But when you do see a tangible, immediate result, the difference is staggering. When I participate in a beach sweep or a park trail clean-up and see dozens of others working together for hours on a weekend morning, then see the huge effect produced, it is endlessly gratifying. When I work in a food bank and then see the huge stacks of boxes packed and organized by the hands of myself and my friends, I feel incredibly fulfilled. It sounds really cheesy and corny, but the satisfaction of actually being able to see myself making a difference means a lot, especially since the world sometimes looks rather bad.

Q: IF YOU WERE SELECTED FOR SENIOR SPOTLIGHT, WHAT OBJECT/ITEM WOULD YOU BRING IN TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED WITH?
A: I would say “my dog,” but that wouldn’t work. So, I’m settling for second best :). I would bring my (very thick) Reader’s Digest Dictionary I got at a yard sale many years ago. Published 1975, it is over three inches thick, over two thousand pages long, and, on top of the standard English dictionary, includes a number of special sections. It has a German-English, a French-English, and a Spanish-English dictionary. There is a 100-page section on the English language that includes essays on etymology, a guide for manuscript preparation, and even a guide to “Regional Variations in American Pronunciation.” There is also a long section of “Specialized” dictionaries, which were: a Dictionary of Space, a Dictionary of Medical Terms, a Dictionary of Selected American Slang, a Dictionary of Quotations from The Reader’s Digest, a Dictionary of First Names, and even a Dictionary of Signs and Symbols. And, most importantly, at the end was a short article entitled “How to Find Out What You Want To Know.” In short, this dictionary has it all. Anything you wanted to know was either in the book or referenced somehow. It fed my knowledge endlessly, and even now I sometimes open it to a random page just to see what new thing I might find, and I am yet to be disappointed!