I interviewed Diego Mendoza. He was born in Lima, Peru on October 22, 1998 and lived there until he was nine years old. In Peru, he had a dog, specifically a pure-bred Schnauzer. His family would always let the dog out, let him roam around town, which is a common thing to do in Peru. However, one day the pure-bred Schnauzer did not come home, and they realized someone stole him. Diego was very upset about that because he loved the dog so much. He later moved to New Jersey and five years later, he moved to Cooper City, Florida. Diego has a twin brother, Alonso (actually in this class), and a thirteen-year-old sister. People always ask him how you can tell him apart from his twin brother. Diego has these two small birthmarks on his face while his brother does not. Also, Diego says that him and his brother have different personalities, so you can tell them apart if you get to know both of them. Hobby wise, Diego loves soccer and has been active in the sport since he was in kindergarten. He also likes to watch soccer. Every four years coincidentally, him and his family go to Peru and it would be around the time when the World Cup is on. From fourth to sixth grade, Diego played the trumpet. He enjoyed playing this instrument, but then realized it was not really for him, so he quit. Diego is currently in the college of engineering here at Florida State University. He is studying electrical engineering, but wants to change to computer engineering. He chose engineering as his major because he likes math and science, specifically, calculus and physics. Some other interesting things I have gathered up from Diego include: him swapping classes with his twin and not getting caught, his favorite food is Lomo Saltado (Peruvian dish that has beef, onions, fries, etc.), wants a tattoo of the Nazca lines of Peru, and he does not have a specific style of clothing, but prefers a comfortable attire (a lot of comfy shorts can be found in his closet).
For my interview, I got the opportunity to find out about the life of Alex Lizzano. He was born in West Palm Beach Florida and continues to live there. He is a middle child with 2 older brothers, an older sister, and 1 younger brother. In West Palm, Alex was an outstanding player on his high school football team and a consistent high scorer on his club basketball team. He has loved basketball and football since he was a kid and enjoys watching the NFL and NBA. His favorite football team is the Dallas Cowboys and his favorite basketball team is the Miami Heat. Currently, Alex is 21 years old and is studying Entrepreneurship here at Florida State University. With this he hopes to one day follow in his father's footsteps and open up his own business, possibly in real estate investment. In his free time, Alex also loves to play video games. He enjoys playing a lot of sports games including 2k. Furthermore, while many people these days have been playing the popular game Fortnite, Alex prefers the game's rival, PUBG. He prefers PUBG over Fortnite for many reasons. Some of the main reasons are because he believes Fortnite is overplayed, he also believes that PUBG is a more competitive game and that it is more realistic compared to Fornite because it isn't animated and you have to carefully plan each of your moves in the game. He also enjoys television and movies. His favorite movies include Scarface, Wolf of Wall Street, Good Fellas, and any movies that follow a theme of Gangsters. He also enjoys the occasional Netflix binge. He loves watching crime dramas as well as "The Office". When asked who would be the most boring fictional character for him to meet in real life, he named Toby from "The Office". Additionally, Alex's family is Cuban. When asked if he has ever traveled outside of the U.S. he said that he has traveled to Canada as well as the Bahamas.
Kelly Hartigan was born in Long Island, New York. Her father, the vice president at a paper company, and mother, the regional manager of most north-eastern schools, raised Kelly in a family home right in Long Island where she would spend essentially all of her life. Kelly being just an hour from New York City got a lot of exposure to weather and people of all sorts. When she was in elementary school she picked up dance, which she would continue to do all the way through high school. When Kelly reached the sixth grade she found inspiration in art, she admired and began to create her own masterpieces in the form of paintings. Her grandfather was a big influence in this art as he was a long-time painter who gifted her painting supplies and techniques to help her create more. Family would always play a big role in Kelly’s life, over everything that kept her going, family was always there. Kelly played softball through middle school in her free time of dance and art but found that she didn’t have enough time to continue it through high school as she began to expand on dance more. While in high school Kelly got a job at a local Target outlet that she still works at today. Every time she visits home she is always welcomed back to her job. Kelly has a brother and a sister both of whom are older than her. Her brother, 25, continues to live in Long Island and is close with her family while her sister, 27, is married to a military man and recently moved from Alabama to Texas. Just before Kelly graduated from high school she visited her sister in Alabama and used the trip as an opportunity to explore more options for college. Florida State University was one of her most memorable school and visited the campus. This inspired her to branch out and land her to where she is today, the school of opportunity Florida State University. With a new Target opening up just a few blocks away from campus, Kelly will be pursuing a possible transfer to continue her Target work while in school.
Sydney Denkert was born on September 19th, 1998 in Miami, Florida where she continues to live. She has an older sister, her name is Shelby and she is three years older than Sydney. When she was young, she attended Coral Reef Elementary, where she started playing soccer. After school she either attended soccer practice or aftercare until her parents could pick her up from school. In aftercare, she played with her friends on the playground and in the gymnasium where she loved to play dodgeball. The aftercare helpers would assist her in completing her homework. She got her first cellphone in fifth grade, which was one of those old school flip phones. Sydney graduated from Palmetto High School in Miami. Sydney had the opportunity of sharing her freshman year experience with her older sister. During her time there, she pursued her soccer career and joined her high school team. Sydney and Shelby got to play soccer together during Sydney's freshman year before Shelby graduated and moved on to college. Sydney became team captain her senior year. Over the summers for the duration of her high school years, she helped and taught young children how to play soccer at a camp close to her home in Miami. While she was in high school, her grandfather passed away, which was very difficult for her due to how close they were. Sydney’s parents went to Florida State University and she decided to follow in their footsteps. She came to FSU for summer C and she now lives in the hall Wildwood. She is majoring in marketing and is unsure as to what she would like to do after she graduated from college. Outside of doing homework and focusing on her studies, she loves to hangout with her friends, going to Standard, and grabbing a bite to eat, mainly indulging on some delicious sushi.
It was a Monday night during the fall of 1999. The streets were buzzing with laughter, people were out drinking and enjoying themselves, its Miami, Florida. This night would mark the beginning of Gloria Chae’s life. Gloria was born on August 16, 1999 in Miami, Florida. She visited Korea to visit her family around the age of 7. Growing up her parents were strict, specially her mother, she was strict because she wanted her daughter to succeed and go in the right path. She is one of four siblings, she has an older brother that’s around the age of 24 and lives in Los Angeles, younger brother that is 13 and a sister that is 16. She took on dancing at an early age, any type of dance that existed, she knew how to dance it. She would dance with elegance and great finesse, dancing was her life. Unfortunately, she had an ankle injury around the age of 14 that put a halt to her dancing. Music became her new interest, playing the piano was something she loved doing and it would help her get away from things. As she grew up, her interests grew too with dying her hair, putting on eye shadow(make-up), and likes any attire that is comfortable. She attended Miami Killian High school, when deciding what to do after high school, she applied to schools that were a decent distance away from home because she wanted to become more independent. Florida State University was the place she chose to study at and gain better knowledge. She is only a freshman at FSU, she really enjoys that campus and the people. When she first got to the university, she really enjoyed going out and having fun, but now she likes to stay in and have girl’s night. She plans on staying at Florida State for her undergrad, and plans to study up north for her graduate school. Teaching music to kids is something she is passionate about and hopes to pursue it, once she gets her music degree.
Charlize Couto was born in Boca, Florida on August 17,1999. She went to five different elementary schools and after school she would hang at the YMCA playing different sports and hanging with her friends until her parents picked her up. Charlize got her first phone in fifth grade and all the other kids in school were jealous. She has an older brother name Nick who is two and half years older than her. Charlize started playing softball in elementary school and was one of the best on her team. She played second base and right field which shows she is very athletic on the field. Being so talented, Charlize has never broken a bone which is pretty impressive! She has traveled to a variety of places like Idaho, but she still has never seen snow. Transitioning from Westglades Middle School to Stoneman Douglas High School, she continued to play her favorite sport, softball. She got her first car senior year of high school and she loves to show off her white jeep. She has two bullterriers that she wished she could take with her to college. When she was applying to colleges, she really had set her heart on attending the University of Georgia. She didn’t want to stay in Florida but, unfortunately it was very expensive to attend out of state colleges, so she picked her number school in Florida, Florida State! At first, she wasn’t as thrilled to attend FSU, but once she entered Florida State in the fall her whole attitude changed. She really loves FSU and she’s glad she made this choice. Her favorite place to go out in Tallahassee is Pots, she likes how its both an inside and outside atmosphere. Usually when she isn’t out having a blast with her friends, she’s relaxing in her dorm. She lives at Jenny Murphree where she is usually lying in bed watching Netflix and enjoying her favorite food, Reese’s cups. She loves watching The Office, she has probably seen it more than 3 times. She’s majoring in criminology where she plans on following in her family’s footsteps and becoming a police officer or even an FBI agent. Next year she can’t wait to live in an apartment where she will have her own bedroom and bathroom at West 10. Sydney Denkert
Lauren Gordon was born on December 26th, 1998 in Plantation, Florida. Born the day after Christmas. She was the best gift any parent can receive. Lauren has been living in the Weston and Davie area for all her life. Both of her parents were born in Jamaica, so she was raised in a Jamaican home that would teach her many important values. She attended pre-k and elementary school in Davie, Florida but then she attended Tequesta Trace park middle school in Weston, Florida. This is where she found many of her friends and was able to express one of her many talents, singing. During her time in middle school, she showed her talent of singing by singing the national anthem before a basketball game. The same year she performed her first singing act, her younger brother was born, which brought joy to Lauren. After her middle school years, she had a burning passion for singing and becoming a neurosurgeon. When Lauren entered high school, she found a different passion, marketing. Lauren put the dream of neurosurgery to the side and focused on the next goal in her life, which was marketing. She joined a prestigious business club that is known around the world, DECA. DECA was a business club that encompassed every aspect in business. The club had a competitive side to it, there were district, state and national competitions. She was in the club for all her years in high school and was lucky enough to attend the national competition in Tennessee during her Junior year. Lauren took all this passion and excitement for marketing that before she arrived at Florida State University she decided to be a marketing major. Now, Lauren is attending Florida State University finishing her pre-requisites so she can declare her major. Also, Lauren is looking into other branches within marketing like public relations and doing market research. When she gets her bachelors in marketing, Lauren is planning on seeking a master degree from University of Pennsylvania in business administration. She has many goals like moving to Europe and being a public relation representative for big companies like Cosmopolitan. There is no doubt that Lauren will succeed in her work.
Ava Zockoll was born on August 14th 1999 in a small town in New Jersey, named Eatontown. She continues to live and reside here, while not in Tallahassee. Ava is Irish, Italian, and German and she has 2 older brothers, and a half-sister. Her older brothers are 21 and 23 and one attended Florida State University. This was the leading cause of Ava attending here as well. Her sister is 27 and lives in a town in Nebraska. When Ava was a child she attended Conover Road Elementary school and took part in dance as well as soccer. She grew up on a small beachy town near the Jersey Shore and had a very close relationship with her mom. Her favorite movie to watch as a child was the Disney movie Moana. As Ava got older, she switched schools and attended Redbank Catholic High School. Here, she participated in many extracurricular activities such as Volleyball and also managed to hold a job. She worked at an ice cream parlor, but she wasn’t very fond of this. During her summers in high school, Ava would set sail on the ocean for 3 weeks at a time. She did this for 3 summers and became very fond of boats. While in high school, Ava had her hopes on attending FSU, and if she did not get in, she planned to attend University of Arizona. She wanted to go somewhere warm, in order to have a change of scenery from her past 18 years. Luckily, she got into FSU where she would spend at least the next 4 years of her young adulthood. When she made her transition from Jersey to Tallahassee, she was very thrilled with what she saw at FSU. She saw a lot of diversity and thought this was very cool and different from her hometown. Ava engages in a lot of different things at FSU, but her main focus is on her major, hospitality. She desires to work with yachts when she is older due to her experience from her multiple summers out on the ocean. Aside from her schoolwork, Ava also has a job working at Pots. She is a door girl there, although it is not her favorite going out place. She loves to attend Clyde’s with her Phi Tau friends and always makes sure to have a great time. She does a great job of balancing her schoolwork, her friends, and her sorority, Delta Gamma.
For my interview, I got the opportunity to speak to Andrew Dearing Dorsey. Andrew was born on September 15th, 1998. Born and raised in Pensacola Florida, he lived in a small city called gulf breeze. Living in a secluded city, everyone knew everyone. It was like everyone was one big family. Andrew has two older brothers and one sister, being the youngest of four. His oldest sibling, Kristen, is 28. Being a family that is very passionate for golf, she received a full ride to Kansas state in 2008 to play on the golf team. Getting injured during her freshman year, she transferred to Eastern Kentucky University and continued on to get her masters in sports management. Thomas, Andrews oldest brother, is 26. He got a full ride to East Mississippi for baseball, studying sports management. Patrick, who is 24, is Andrews closest sibling. Being only 5 and a half years older, they get along very well. he attended Faulkner State in Alabama on a full ride scholarship for golf. They talk about everything, whether it be tips on how to survive on your own in college or help with math. Being a sports-oriented family, Andrew grew up playing sports. In elementary school, he played golf. Not a huge fan, and kinda feeling forced, during middle and high school at gulf breeze, he played soccer and football. Perusing sports all his life was always fun, but Andrew took academics very seriously. He ended his high school years top of his class with a 4.7 GPA. High school was a lot of fun, having many close friends and partying a lot. Being the only one out of his siblings to not go to college for sports, he prefers helping people by putting a smile on their face and studying to be successful. While academics are his main priority, living in an apartment with his two best friends is always a good time and sometimes hard. Finding the time to cook a meal, or even remembering to lock the door when he leaves for the day, is the hardest part about his college experience. All in all, Andrew loves going out with his friends to college Ave, or just hanging with the boys, he loves Florida State University.
Wendi Jade Halpryn came into existence on a hot winters day on November, 5, 1998, in Mount Saini Hospital, Miami Beach. Wendi was born into a family of two sisters and a happy couple. Wendi ended up being the youngest of three girls, Samantha being the eldest and Nicole being the middle child. Samantha, Nicole, and Wendi all grew up in the same house in Miami Beach and went to the same grade schools up until college. As a child, Wendi attended a small co-ed private school from Kindergarten to sixth grade at Lehrman Community Day School in Miami Beach, and then, attended another small co-ed private school from seventh to 12th grade at Miami County Day School. Growing up Wendi played all sorts of sports ranging from soccer to water polo. As a kid, she would involve herself with almost all sports, but when she got older she knew that running cross country for her school was the best option. At Miami County Day School, which is equivalent to general high school, Wendi found herself making tremendous grades just like her sisters did before her. She studied hard and received almost all A’s throughout high school. Wendi knew she wanted to stay in state for college, and go to her favorite college, Florida State University. Ever since her closest sister, Nicole, went off to FSU back in 2014, it was easy for her to decide FSU was the right college to go to. Nicole is the middle child of the family and Wendi’s closest sister. She is currently a senior at Florida State University and is planning on attending University of Miami for their Law School this fall. Wendi is closer to Nicole because of the long, late night talks about boys and other drama that would be surrounding their lives at the time. Although she liked to hang out with friends on the weekend and go on the boat, she always found herself in her sister’s room both receiving and giving advice. Wendi has not chosen a major yet but is leaning toward law just like her influential sister, Nicole.
I had the opportunity to interview and get to know David Ryber. David is an eighteen-year-old student here at Florida State University. He is a very interesting person with a bright future filled with important goals in his future. David was born just a few minutes away from the Detroit area. He spent his childhood and teen years in the small suburb of Troy. He grew up as an only child and still has no siblings. As a child, David played baseball and enjoyed hanging out with his friends and family. He has always loved to watch football and basketball. His favorite teams are the Detroit Pistons, Detroit Lions, and the Michigan State Spartans. David also thoroughly enjoyed going to the Detroit Tigers home baseball games. Transitioning to high school, he became heavily involved in the cross-country team and also the golf team. He always was around friends who had similar interest in running and cross country. He always maintained exceptional grades throughout school and knew that he could get accepted into nearly any school of his choice. Towards the end of his junior year of high school, David came to the realization that he was ready for a change in environment, so he and his family set off on a mission to find the perfect school and living area for him. He quickly grew tired of the cold weather back home in Michigan, so one of the main criteria he was looking for in a new school was a school in a more southern state with much warmer weather. David and his parent visited various schools ranging from The University of Alabama, Clemson, The University of Florida, and finally Florida State University. He instantly fell in love with the campus, weather, and surrounding area of Tallahassee. He decided to leave his home, friends, and family and pursue his further education at Florida State University. David now happily lives at an on-campus dorm and he is taking classes at FSU. He plans on pursuing a finance major where he can later on in life enter the field of investment banking.
I had the opportunity to speak to Lexi McLellan. Lexi was born in Arizona on June 13th, 1999. Her dad was in the military so her family moved around a lot. Her dad would be gone for long periods of time so especially when she was younger, she had a hard time recognizing her dad at first. One time, she recalls when he came back with a mustache and Lexi had no idea who he was. But as time passed, she grew used to her dad’s schedule and also managed to maintain a close relationship with him. When she was two years old, Lexi moved to Virginia. Then, North Carolina at the age of three, Texas also at three, Alabama at seven, North Carolina at 13 and finally germany when she was 16 years old. In North Carolina, she met her closest friend Dom and they still keep in touch actively, even though they live far from each other. During her childhood years, she remembers bonding with her dad and sister over spongebob. She was also really active when she was younger and was involved in a lot of sports. She played soccer, flag football, and so much more. In particular, she was very talented at soccer. Since she didn’t get to see her dad too often, they would go on runs together and that was and still is their way of bonding and catching up. No matter how busy they both were, they always made time to run with each other. She played soccer even throughout high school and has picked up a couple intramural sports at Florida State. She chose to come to Florida State as a last minute option. Lexi was particularly convinced by the scholarship money she was offered for ROTC. Lexi ended up really liking Florida State; she has had some of the most cherished memories here with her friends and is glad that she decided to come here. She is currently a Psychology major and hopes to serve in the military after she graduates. She also has a pet bunny named stout who was named after the dark guinness beers.
I was given the opportunity to interview a fellow classmate, Max Berlowitz. Max is a nineteen-year-old freshman at Florida State University and is from Miami, Florida. Max's family still lives in Florida and he has relatives from New York. Max attended Miami Country Day High School and said he played about every sport you can think of, besides lacrosse. Max's favorite sport to play is basketball and favorite to watch is football. Being from Miami, Max is a fan of teams such as the Miami Dolphins, Marlins, Heat, and Florida Panthers. His favorite professional football player is the Safety for the Miami Dolphins, Reshad Jones. Max's favorite food is sushi and enjoys watching The Office frequently. The most boring fictional character Max could think of was Spongebob, which I can agree with or with any character from that cartoon. Max chose to attend Florida State University over Indiana University mainly because of how much closer Florida State is to his family compared to Indiana. During the Fall semester, Max rushed, pledged, and became a brother for the Fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi). Max's interest and love for sports has lead him to pursue the path of a Sports Management degree for the College of Education here at Florida State University. Max hopes that after college he will have a career as a Sports Agent, which by just speaking to him I think that he can achieve that goal. Maybe one day he can represent one of his favorite players, anything is possible. Max is currently a resident at Southgate Campus Centre, next to the Sweet Shop, and is excited to be living in a off-campus house this upcoming Fall semester with some of his Fraternity brothers. He will have to share a bathroom with one other person, which is not bad to adjust to since he shares one with his current roommate, and will have his own kitchen and living room in this house, so pretty good deal. The opportunities in store for Max in the future are endless and with being a nice guy and being good with talking to people will get him far in his life.
Recently, I got the chance to speak with Matt Middlebrooks. Matt was born on April 29th, 1999 making him 18 years old. He is a freshman who is attending Florida State University and it is his third semester here. His love for sports influenced him to pursue a major in Sport Management. He chose to attend Florida State because his parents had Florida prepaid set up for him. Florida State was simply just "the best school" in his opinion. He was actually the first person ever from his high school to go on and attend Florida State. Matt grew up in the city of Jacksonville, Florida. He resided in Jacksonville for ten years until his family relocated up north. His family made the move to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania due to his father's job promotion which forced them relocate. He was in fifth grade when he had to adjust to a new life in a different state. Although he moved quite a while back, he did not forget about all the wonderful friends he made back in Jacksonville. Matt still continues to keep in touch with his friends with the help of cell phones and social media. He has one sister who is younger than him, she is currently a freshman in high school. Growing up, Matt played basketball and football. He continued to play these sports throughout the duration of his high school years. Downing Town High School is the high school in Philadelphia that he attended. Basketball was the sport that he played all four years, but he only got to play football two of his four years. Shattering his arm while playing football lead him to have surgery where metal rods got put into his arm, which he still has in today. It took him a year to recover from this injury because he had to go through physical therapy after his surgery. Back home in Philadelphia, he obtained a job at Dicks Sporting Goods. He does not currently work there in Tallahassee because he got a different job working for Campus Rec where he is a basketball referee.
Tarren Pearson was born in a small town in Virginia called Fort Myer. Currently, his mom is a spinal surgery nurse, and his dad is in the military, having been in both the army and navy branch. Because of his dad’s career, he’s accustomed to moving around a lot. I asked him how he felt about moving, and he said it had its ups and downs. Being able to see new places and meet new people was great, but having to make new friends every time and adjust to the very different climates was sometimes hard. Starting in Virginia, Tarren moved to Oregon, and then Washington, and eventually winding up in Boca, Florida. While Virginia was a nice mild climate, Washington was always rainy, and now Florida is constantly hot. As for siblings, he has 2 step siblings, both younger than him, and two half siblings, both older than him. We talked about being the middle child, and he said he enjoyed the dynamic of being able to learn things from his older siblings and teaching his younger siblings these lessons. His childhood was split between spending time in Washington with his mom, and Oregon with his dad. Going into his middle and high school days, he played soccer for his school team with some of his closest friends, until he had broken his hand which prevented him from continuing. To fill his time after his injury, class government and leadership kept him occupied in high school. Tarren said meeting cool and different people and being a part of a club made his high school days extremely enjoyable, contrary to most people’s experiences. In terms of hobbies, he enjoys playing video games and making music. Drake, Post Malone, and Kendrick Lamar are amongst his favorite artists, but as a kid he’s been exposed to all different genres, ranging from country music to EDM. Fast forward to his college days, he’s attending FSU as a criminology major in hopes to join an agency one day like the FBI. He decided to go to school in Florida because, aside from his dad living around 6 hours away in south Florida, he likes exploring new environments and seeing all the world has to offer. After seeing many different states, he hopes to continue this and go overseas sometime in his future.
After given a great opportunity to interview one of my classmates (Alex Pedraja), I got to learn a lot of things about him. Alex was born in Hollywood, Florida and attended Western high school. His family has a variety of backgrounds which include cuban and irish. Growing up his favorite sport to play and watch was football. Sadly, his favorite team to watch in the NFL is the miami dolphins. I only say sadly because they will of course suck again this upcoming year. After asking him who his favorite football player to watch, he said Jarvis Landry. I remember him saying that even though he is on a different team now, he is still my favorite player to watch on T.V. However, the T.V. show he watches the most and loves the most is the new show called rick and morty. After I asked him what kind of food would he willingly eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday, he chose a piece of chicken because of its high protein and amazing flavor. Back at home, Alex had a job working for his local chick fil a restaurant. After applying to colleges, he was choosing between FSU and UCF. After visiting both he had a really hard decision on where to go to school. He finally came to a realization and realized that he likes FSU more than UCF. Now that he is a freshman in college, he is still trying to become passionate about something because he does not know what to pursue when he is older. The next step in order to become passionate about a job is switching into that major. So what Alex did recently was he switched into the engineer major at FSU.
I had the privilege of interviewing Kristin Piotrowski. Kristin is from Winter Park, Florida. Winter Park is right in between Tampa and Florida. Kristin is the youngest of 3 children. Her siblings already have children and she already is an Aunt to a niece and two nephews. Kristin’s favorite color has always been pink. Growing up, Kristin loved cheerleading. She cheered all of high school and loved what she did. One time during a summer cheer camp she got a serious black eye that stuck with her for a good while. Her best friends were named Ana and Allison. They loved hanging out and having fun in their free time. So much that even today all three go to Florida State together and still hang out. In high school Kristin worked as a office assistant, and to add to that she could also be listed as a babysitter because included in her job sometimes was babysitting the bosses child. Kristin is good at making tacos, and enjoys to make them because they are simple. Her favorite show to watch is Grey’s Anatomy, the medical drama series. Kristin recently purchased a new puppy. She knew that she wanted a sweet dog, so she purchased a black golden doodle. Phoebe, now just 4 months old, is the sweetest girl and Kristin has trained her to be a very well rounded pup. When going out, Kristin enjoys going to The Strip or recess with friends. When asked about going out, she stated, “I love to go out with my friends and make the best of memories. We love to talk, dance and just have a great time”. With her major, Kristin looks to become a elementary school teacher. She is great with children and hopes to teach kids in the kindergarden to third grade range.
I was fortunate to learn more about and listen to some unique life experiences of Julianne Hyunseung Lee. Julianne was born on Christmas in July in 1999 in Miami Gardens. Since she was one, she and her family of four resided in Cooper City. Given the opportunity to move when she was a little older, Julie was adamant about staying in the same house she grew up in even though the move was just across town. Growing up she did not have any pets but, she does have a little brother and no matter how annoying he is, she loves him very much. Julie’s parents were very protective of her and her brother. She and her brother had limited time watching television. Julie’s mother thought certain shows like SpongeBob were annoying but, approved of many classic Disney Channel shows such as Suite Life, Shake it Up, and Sunny with a Chance. Julianne’s father owns a successful whig business which was one of the first in the country ran by Julie’s grandfather. Every time her father comes home from a business trip, he would trap little Julie in his arms. He was arguably the most protective parent when Julie became of age to date, as any father would. Throughout her years in high school, Julianne started devoting more and more time to the band where she played the flute. She became so strong in her band program that she began taking serious leadership roles at Cooper City High School Band Program. It was nice for Julie to have this as an outlet but, it was time to let go and focus on her next chapter in life, Florida State University. Florida State was a safety school for Julianne and Ruckers in New Jersey was her first choice but, she continues to find her place in her new home and each month that goes by, another club shows up on her resume. Another outlet Julie turned to in times of stress was her cardio workouts. She loves to run, no matter what was going on, Julie always made time to put on some motivational hip-hop or rap music while her size six and a half sneakers hit the pavement. Her studies were another important thing to Julie. Although she was strong in all subjects, all classes relating to the medical field interested her. She continues to study all sorts of science with the hope of becoming Doctor Lee in the future.
Alonso Mendoza was born in Lima, Peru on October 22, 1998 with his twin brother. He lived in Peru until the age of 8 when his family moved to New Jersey. Up until the age of 13, Alonso had acclimated to American customs and made many friends. They would do parkour around the neighborhood and break into houses, yet his record is allegedly clean. In 2012, Alonso's dad was transferred to Florida for his job. This was somewhat devastating for Alonso because he had created such strong bonds with the people he met. In fact, his parents sent him back for 2 weeks because the move was so hard on him. His first impression of Florida was that it was way too hot. After a few months, however, Alonso made new friends and met a girl named Valentina. They met through soccer and have been dating for 5 years now. Although they went to different high schools, Cooper City and Cypress Bay, their relationship persisted. When it was time to apply for college, Florida State was not Alonso's first choice. He strived to attend the University of Virginia and that school in the swamp called the University of Florida. However, he was deferred from UVA and denied from UF, which stimulated his decision to go to Florida State. He currently studies biomedical engineering, and his dream is to become a neurosurgeon. Although he stated, "The university doesn't make you. You make the university," meaning it all just depends on the opportunities you take, Alonso plans on transferring. It's between UF and Georgia Tech because of the competitive nature and work ethic that radiates among students. Also, Valentina goes to Georgia Tech, so that's a plus in his eyes. Getting good grades is the most important thing to him at the moment so that his resume looks good for Medical School. If Medical School doesn't work out for Alonso, he'll still be an engineer. He is happy with that because he loves mathematics and science. This summer he'll be living in Ohio with his girlfriend because she has an internship there. He's excited to cook for Valentina and explore the state with her.
I interviewed Charlene Forti. She was born on January 18, 1999 in Davie, Florida and lived there until she was four years old. She then moved to Coral Springs because they had a better schooling system there than they did in Davie. Her mom is originally from the Philippines and her dad is from New York, so she is Italian, Polish, and Philippine. Growing up, she had no brothers or sisters and she had a cat for sixteen years, even though her and her mother are allergic to cats. After her cat passed away, she found a lizard while out one day and her and her mom brought it to the pet store where they were told it would die out on its own, so Charlene and her mom decided to keep it as their new pet. During her middle school years she began to swim for the Coral Spring swim club for a few years. She then took a break from sports until her Junior year of high school where she began swimming once again and also joined the Water Polo team. In swimming she competed it the 100 meter freestyle and the 400 meter freestyle relay. She loved Water polo because it was the first team sport she did and she liked it so much she did not even mind going to 6 am practices. When she came to Florida State in the fall she joined Delta Zeta after meeting some of the members of the sorority through a mutual friend. She also picked up her new favorite hobby, rockclimbing, in the fall. While taking an astronomy lab, her TA and other friends constantly mentioned how fun rockclimbing was for them and she wanted to try it. Now she goes to the Tallahassee rock gym several times a week, and wants to eventually be able to rock climb outdoors on mountains. She is a Human Resources Management major, though she may switch to a Philosophy major after debating whether or not that was what she wanted to do coming into Florida State, and she is hoping she can figure out what exactly she wants to do after college.
A New Jersey native, Travis Ardin was born in Denville on March 1st, 1999. He grew up in Rockaway, a town with a little over six thousand people, where his father served as the chief of police and his mother as the payroll manager of a propane company. He played as the left fielder for baseball at his high school and even got an offer from Washington College to play for them. Having a couple of options to go to smaller schools for college, Travis knew he did not want to stay in New Jersey for the next four years of his life and so he applied to the University of South Carolina, as well as other larger universities. However, USC did not get back to him as quickly as Florida State University did and that brings us to Travis’ current life here at FSU. Despite having a car here on campus, Travis prefers to deal with the daily parking hassle as little as possible and thus walks to all of his classes. Residing in apartment-style McCollum Hall on the west corner of campus with three other roommates, Travis is majoring in Accounting, a subject he is comfortable with and knows he will have a secure future in. Ideally he would like to work as the general manager of a baseball team and is looking into double majoring in Sports Management as well. Although Travis is not currently in any clubs, he is involved with and passionate about his fraternity’s IM softball team. Regarding his decision to join Greek life, Travis sought to build lasting friendships seeing that he was an out-of-state student and a freshman in college. The fraternity of Beta Theta Pi is where Travis found his new brothers, the people he felt most at home with. Sometimes waking up is a struggle but at least three times a week Travis will get up at 6 am to go to the gym either with his brothers or by himself and start his day early. It’s on these days that Travis feels the best and is the most productive.
Today I had the opportunity to interview myself and get to explore my past a little more. My name is Samantha Rios and I was born December 1st 1997 at 10pm in Kendall Regional Hospital. For this reason I believe that I am a night owl. As soon as I was born all of my aunts and uncles came to visit me in the hospital and I had my first experience meeting my huge Cuban family. I was born into a very cuban family actually making me the first generation to be born in America, but one can say that living in Miami is basically Cuba part two. I later went on to elementary school where I was one of the first kids to start reading. When I was in Kindergarten I was able to read the level 10 books while most people were on level 1-5. In elementary school I went onto having some of the most AR book sores and would always get stickers everytime I finished a new book. Soon enough I had a little sister names Vicki who is 2 years younger than me. Vicki is cool but we have always had extremely different personalities which caused us to fight a lot in grade school. When I got to middle school I applies to be in a dance magnet and danced all my years in middle school for 2 hours a day. At the same time I was very involved in the sport of cheerleading becoming an all star cheerleader for 5 years with the Top Gun allstars. I was always one of the most flexible people in my team and love to do lots of jumps and flips. Midway through high school i quit cheerleading because believe it or not it was very competitive and exhausting but I continues dance all four years of high school. In my opinion high school sucked! I transferred from a public middle school to an expensive private school and felt like a fish out of water. I did poorly in my clases as everyone just expected me to have a subpar education and I fell into the stereotype. When I graduated high school I felt like a new world had opened up to me. I went on to attend the Florida State university where I have excelled in all of my classes earning a 3.81 GPA and loosing over 30 pounds. Now all my old haters ask me how I do it. I have slowly learned that school comes first and my future means everything to me now. I have goals of becoming a doctor and as of now nothing is stopping me. Im happy to say that I am currently living my life to the fullest and I couldn't be happier.
Kamaren Sandhu was born in Chicago Illinois, and he spent the first seventeen years of his life there until moving to Orlando Florida his senior year of high school. This was a big move for him and his family, and it required a lot of getting used to. The biggest hurdle for him was meeting new people, because he came to Orlando not knowing anyone. One aspect of Florida that he preferred was the warmer weather and no snow, which was a big change from the harsh winters of Chicago. What he misses the most about Chicago is family, friends, and the food. He still keeps in touch with friends and family back in Chicago, and he tries to visit when he finds time. Right now, Kamaren is nineteen years old and a Freshmen at Florida State University. When originally deciding on where he wanted to attend college, he thought about going to schools back in the Chicago area but chose not to. He is currently an Exploratory major, but is interested in either the Computer Science or STEM programs at FSU. School is a top priority for him, so he always makes sure that he stays on top of his school work. Kameren’s parents are from England, and he still has family that lives there. He also has an older brother. In his free time, he really enjoys playing golf and can be found at the FSU course almost every day. He has experience playing in competitive golf with hopes to be a walk on for the FSU golf team one day. Kameren likes watching basketball, soccer, and golf when he can, and is a huge Golden State Warriors fan. He does not watch a lot of TV, but when he does he usually watches The Game of Thornes. Although, he struggles sometimes to keep up with all episodes that come out. He also likes to play Xbox, and usually plays either 2k or FortNite. His favorite music genres are hip hop and pop, some of his favorite artists are Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, Drake, and Future.
I interviewed Diego Mendoza. He was born in Lima, Peru on October 22, 1998 and lived there until he was nine years old. In Peru, he had a dog, specifically a pure-bred Schnauzer. His family would always let the dog out, let him roam around town, which is a common thing to do in Peru. However, one day the pure-bred Schnauzer did not come home, and they realized someone stole him. Diego was very upset about that because he loved the dog so much. He later moved to New Jersey and five years later, he moved to Cooper City, Florida. Diego has a twin brother, Alonso (actually in this class), and a thirteen-year-old sister. People always ask him how you can tell him apart from his twin brother. Diego has these two small birthmarks on his face while his brother does not. Also, Diego says that him and his brother have different personalities, so you can tell them apart if you get to know both of them. Hobby wise, Diego loves soccer and has been active in the sport since he was in kindergarten. He also likes to watch soccer. Every four years coincidentally, him and his family go to Peru and it would be around the time when the World Cup is on. From fourth to sixth grade, Diego played the trumpet. He enjoyed playing this instrument, but then realized it was not really for him, so he quit. Diego is currently in the college of engineering here at Florida State University. He is studying electrical engineering, but wants to change to computer engineering. He chose engineering as his major because he likes math and science, specifically, calculus and physics. Some other interesting things I have gathered up from Diego include: him swapping classes with his twin and not getting caught, his favorite food is Lomo Saltado (Peruvian dish that has beef, onions, fries, etc.), wants a tattoo of the Nazca lines of Peru, and he does not have a specific style of clothing, but prefers a comfortable attire (a lot of comfy shorts can be found in his closet).
ReplyDeleteGloria Chae
For my interview, I got the opportunity to find out about the life of Alex Lizzano. He was born in West Palm Beach Florida and continues to live there. He is a middle child with 2 older brothers, an older sister, and 1 younger brother. In West Palm, Alex was an outstanding player on his high school football team and a consistent high scorer on his club basketball team. He has loved basketball and football since he was a kid and enjoys watching the NFL and NBA. His favorite football team is the Dallas Cowboys and his favorite basketball team is the Miami Heat. Currently, Alex is 21 years old and is studying Entrepreneurship here at Florida State University. With this he hopes to one day follow in his father's footsteps and open up his own business, possibly in real estate investment. In his free time, Alex also loves to play video games. He enjoys playing a lot of sports games including 2k. Furthermore, while many people these days have been playing the popular game Fortnite, Alex prefers the game's rival, PUBG. He prefers PUBG over Fortnite for many reasons. Some of the main reasons are because he believes Fortnite is overplayed, he also believes that PUBG is a more competitive game and that it is more realistic compared to Fornite because it isn't animated and you have to carefully plan each of your moves in the game. He also enjoys television and movies. His favorite movies include Scarface, Wolf of Wall Street, Good Fellas, and any movies that follow a theme of Gangsters. He also enjoys the occasional Netflix binge. He loves watching crime dramas as well as "The Office". When asked who would be the most boring fictional character for him to meet in real life, he named Toby from "The Office". Additionally, Alex's family is Cuban. When asked if he has ever traveled outside of the U.S. he said that he has traveled to Canada as well as the Bahamas.
ReplyDeleteKamaren Sandhu
Kelly Hartigan was born in Long Island, New York. Her father, the vice president at a paper company, and mother, the regional manager of most north-eastern schools, raised Kelly in a family home right in Long Island where she would spend essentially all of her life. Kelly being just an hour from New York City got a lot of exposure to weather and people of all sorts. When she was in elementary school she picked up dance, which she would continue to do all the way through high school. When Kelly reached the sixth grade she found inspiration in art, she admired and began to create her own masterpieces in the form of paintings. Her grandfather was a big influence in this art as he was a long-time painter who gifted her painting supplies and techniques to help her create more. Family would always play a big role in Kelly’s life, over everything that kept her going, family was always there. Kelly played softball through middle school in her free time of dance and art but found that she didn’t have enough time to continue it through high school as she began to expand on dance more. While in high school Kelly got a job at a local Target outlet that she still works at today. Every time she visits home she is always welcomed back to her job. Kelly has a brother and a sister both of whom are older than her. Her brother, 25, continues to live in Long Island and is close with her family while her sister, 27, is married to a military man and recently moved from Alabama to Texas. Just before Kelly graduated from high school she visited her sister in Alabama and used the trip as an opportunity to explore more options for college. Florida State University was one of her most memorable school and visited the campus. This inspired her to branch out and land her to where she is today, the school of opportunity Florida State University. With a new Target opening up just a few blocks away from campus, Kelly will be pursuing a possible transfer to continue her Target work while in school.
ReplyDeleteSydney Denkert was born on September 19th, 1998 in Miami, Florida where she continues to live. She has an older sister, her name is Shelby and she is three years older than Sydney.
ReplyDeleteWhen she was young, she attended Coral Reef Elementary, where she started playing soccer. After school she either attended soccer practice or aftercare until her parents could pick her up from school. In aftercare, she played with her friends on the playground and in the gymnasium where she loved to play dodgeball. The aftercare helpers would assist her in completing her homework. She got her first cellphone in fifth grade, which was one of those old school flip phones.
Sydney graduated from Palmetto High School in Miami. Sydney had the opportunity of sharing her freshman year experience with her older sister. During her time there, she pursued her soccer career and joined her high school team. Sydney and Shelby got to play soccer together during Sydney's freshman year before Shelby graduated and moved on to college. Sydney became team captain her senior year. Over the summers for the duration of her high school years, she helped and taught young children how to play soccer at a camp close to her home in Miami. While she was in high school, her grandfather passed away, which was very difficult for her due to how close they were.
Sydney’s parents went to Florida State University and she decided to follow in their footsteps. She came to FSU for summer C and she now lives in the hall Wildwood. She is majoring in marketing and is unsure as to what she would like to do after she graduated from college. Outside of doing homework and focusing on her studies, she loves to hangout with her friends, going to Standard, and grabbing a bite to eat, mainly indulging on some delicious sushi.
Charlize Couto
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ReplyDeleteIt was a Monday night during the fall of 1999. The streets were buzzing with laughter, people were out drinking and enjoying themselves, its Miami, Florida. This night would mark the beginning of Gloria Chae’s life. Gloria was born on August 16, 1999 in Miami, Florida. She visited Korea to visit her family around the age of 7. Growing up her parents were strict, specially her mother, she was strict because she wanted her daughter to succeed and go in the right path. She is one of four siblings, she has an older brother that’s around the age of 24 and lives in Los Angeles, younger brother that is 13 and a sister that is 16. She took on dancing at an early age, any type of dance that existed, she knew how to dance it. She would dance with elegance and great finesse, dancing was her life. Unfortunately, she had an ankle injury around the age of 14 that put a halt to her dancing. Music became her new interest, playing the piano was something she loved doing and it would help her get away from things. As she grew up, her interests grew too with dying her hair, putting on eye shadow(make-up), and likes any attire that is comfortable. She attended Miami Killian High school, when deciding what to do after high school, she applied to schools that were a decent distance away from home because she wanted to become more independent. Florida State University was the place she chose to study at and gain better knowledge. She is only a freshman at FSU, she really enjoys that campus and the people. When she first got to the university, she really enjoyed going out and having fun, but now she likes to stay in and have girl’s night. She plans on staying at Florida State for her undergrad, and plans to study up north for her graduate school. Teaching music to kids is something she is passionate about and hopes to pursue it, once she gets her music degree.
ReplyDeleteDiego Mendoza
Charlize Couto was born in Boca, Florida on August 17,1999. She went to five different elementary schools and after school she would hang at the YMCA playing different sports and hanging with her friends until her parents picked her up. Charlize got her first phone in fifth grade and all the other kids in school were jealous. She has an older brother name Nick who is two and half years older than her. Charlize started playing softball in elementary school and was one of the best on her team. She played second base and right field which shows she is very athletic on the field. Being so talented, Charlize has never broken a bone which is pretty impressive! She has traveled to a variety of places like Idaho, but she still has never seen snow. Transitioning from Westglades Middle School to Stoneman Douglas High School, she continued to play her favorite sport, softball. She got her first car senior year of high school and she loves to show off her white jeep. She has two bullterriers that she wished she could take with her to college. When she was applying to colleges, she really had set her heart on attending the University of Georgia. She didn’t want to stay in Florida but, unfortunately it was very expensive to attend out of state colleges, so she picked her number school in Florida, Florida State! At first, she wasn’t as thrilled to attend FSU, but once she entered Florida State in the fall her whole attitude changed. She really loves FSU and she’s glad she made this choice. Her favorite place to go out in Tallahassee is Pots, she likes how its both an inside and outside atmosphere. Usually when she isn’t out having a blast with her friends, she’s relaxing in her dorm. She lives at Jenny Murphree where she is usually lying in bed watching Netflix and enjoying her favorite food, Reese’s cups. She loves watching The Office, she has probably seen it more than 3 times. She’s majoring in criminology where she plans on following in her family’s footsteps and becoming a police officer or even an FBI agent. Next year she can’t wait to live in an apartment where she will have her own bedroom and bathroom at West 10.
ReplyDeleteSydney Denkert
Lauren Gordon was born on December 26th, 1998 in Plantation, Florida. Born the day after Christmas. She was the best gift any parent can receive. Lauren has been living in the Weston and Davie area for all her life. Both of her parents were born in Jamaica, so she was raised in a Jamaican home that would teach her many important values. She attended pre-k and elementary school in Davie, Florida but then she attended Tequesta Trace park middle school in Weston, Florida. This is where she found many of her friends and was able to express one of her many talents, singing. During her time in middle school, she showed her talent of singing by singing the national anthem before a basketball game. The same year she performed her first singing act, her younger brother was born, which brought joy to Lauren. After her middle school years, she had a burning passion for singing and becoming a neurosurgeon. When Lauren entered high school, she found a different passion, marketing. Lauren put the dream of neurosurgery to the side and focused on the next goal in her life, which was marketing. She joined a prestigious business club that is known around the world, DECA. DECA was a business club that encompassed every aspect in business. The club had a competitive side to it, there were district, state and national competitions. She was in the club for all her years in high school and was lucky enough to attend the national competition in Tennessee during her Junior year. Lauren took all this passion and excitement for marketing that before she arrived at Florida State University she decided to be a marketing major. Now, Lauren is attending Florida State University finishing her pre-requisites so she can declare her major. Also, Lauren is looking into other branches within marketing like public relations and doing market research. When she gets her bachelors in marketing, Lauren is planning on seeking a master degree from University of Pennsylvania in business administration. She has many goals like moving to Europe and being a public relation representative for big companies like Cosmopolitan. There is no doubt that Lauren will succeed in her work.
ReplyDeleteAva Zockoll was born on August 14th 1999 in a small town in New Jersey, named Eatontown. She continues to live and reside here, while not in Tallahassee. Ava is Irish, Italian, and German and she has 2 older brothers, and a half-sister. Her older brothers are 21 and 23 and one attended Florida State University. This was the leading cause of Ava attending here as well. Her sister is 27 and lives in a town in Nebraska.
ReplyDeleteWhen Ava was a child she attended Conover Road Elementary school and took part in dance as well as soccer. She grew up on a small beachy town near the Jersey Shore and had a very close relationship with her mom. Her favorite movie to watch as a child was the Disney movie Moana.
As Ava got older, she switched schools and attended Redbank Catholic High School. Here, she participated in many extracurricular activities such as Volleyball and also managed to hold a job. She worked at an ice cream parlor, but she wasn’t very fond of this. During her summers in high school, Ava would set sail on the ocean for 3 weeks at a time. She did this for 3 summers and became very fond of boats. While in high school, Ava had her hopes on attending FSU, and if she did not get in, she planned to attend University of Arizona. She wanted to go somewhere warm, in order to have a change of scenery from her past 18 years. Luckily, she got into FSU where she would spend at least the next 4 years of her young adulthood.
When she made her transition from Jersey to Tallahassee, she was very thrilled with what she saw at FSU. She saw a lot of diversity and thought this was very cool and different from her hometown. Ava engages in a lot of different things at FSU, but her main focus is on her major, hospitality. She desires to work with yachts when she is older due to her experience from her multiple summers out on the ocean. Aside from her schoolwork, Ava also has a job working at Pots. She is a door girl there, although it is not her favorite going out place. She loves to attend Clyde’s with her Phi Tau friends and always makes sure to have a great time. She does a great job of balancing her schoolwork, her friends, and her sorority, Delta Gamma.
Molly Hauser
For my interview, I got the opportunity to speak to Andrew Dearing Dorsey. Andrew was born on September 15th, 1998. Born and raised in Pensacola Florida, he lived in a small city called gulf breeze. Living in a secluded city, everyone knew everyone. It was like everyone was one big family. Andrew has two older brothers and one sister, being the youngest of four. His oldest sibling, Kristen, is 28. Being a family that is very passionate for golf, she received a full ride to Kansas state in 2008 to play on the golf team. Getting injured during her freshman year, she transferred to Eastern Kentucky University and continued on to get her masters in sports management. Thomas, Andrews oldest brother, is 26. He got a full ride to East Mississippi for baseball, studying sports management. Patrick, who is 24, is Andrews closest sibling. Being only 5 and a half years older, they get along very well. he attended Faulkner State in Alabama on a full ride scholarship for golf. They talk about everything, whether it be tips on how to survive on your own in college or help with math. Being a sports-oriented family, Andrew grew up playing sports. In elementary school, he played golf. Not a huge fan, and kinda feeling forced, during middle and high school at gulf breeze, he played soccer and football. Perusing sports all his life was always fun, but Andrew took academics very seriously. He ended his high school years top of his class with a 4.7 GPA. High school was a lot of fun, having many close friends and partying a lot. Being the only one out of his siblings to not go to college for sports, he prefers helping people by putting a smile on their face and studying to be successful. While academics are his main priority, living in an apartment with his two best friends is always a good time and sometimes hard. Finding the time to cook a meal, or even remembering to lock the door when he leaves for the day, is the hardest part about his college experience. All in all, Andrew loves going out with his friends to college Ave, or just hanging with the boys, he loves Florida State University.
ReplyDeleteWendi Jade Halpryn came into existence on a hot winters day on November, 5, 1998, in Mount Saini Hospital, Miami Beach. Wendi was born into a family of two sisters and a happy couple. Wendi ended up being the youngest of three girls, Samantha being the eldest and Nicole being the middle child. Samantha, Nicole, and Wendi all grew up in the same house in Miami Beach and went to the same grade schools up until college. As a child, Wendi attended a small co-ed private school from Kindergarten to sixth grade at Lehrman Community Day School in Miami Beach, and then, attended another small co-ed private school from seventh to 12th grade at Miami County Day School. Growing up Wendi played all sorts of sports ranging from soccer to water polo. As a kid, she would involve herself with almost all sports, but when she got older she knew that running cross country for her school was the best option. At Miami County Day School, which is equivalent to general high school, Wendi found herself making tremendous grades just like her sisters did before her. She studied hard and received almost all A’s throughout high school. Wendi knew she wanted to stay in state for college, and go to her favorite college, Florida State University. Ever since her closest sister, Nicole, went off to FSU back in 2014, it was easy for her to decide FSU was the right college to go to. Nicole is the middle child of the family and Wendi’s closest sister. She is currently a senior at Florida State University and is planning on attending University of Miami for their Law School this fall. Wendi is closer to Nicole because of the long, late night talks about boys and other drama that would be surrounding their lives at the time. Although she liked to hang out with friends on the weekend and go on the boat, she always found herself in her sister’s room both receiving and giving advice. Wendi has not chosen a major yet but is leaning toward law just like her influential sister, Nicole.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Dorsey
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ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity to interview and get to know David Ryber. David is an eighteen-year-old student here at Florida State University. He is a very interesting person with a bright future filled with important goals in his future. David was born just a few minutes away from the Detroit area. He spent his childhood and teen years in the small suburb of Troy. He grew up as an only child and still has no siblings. As a child, David played baseball and enjoyed hanging out with his friends and family. He has always loved to watch football and basketball. His favorite teams are the Detroit Pistons, Detroit Lions, and the Michigan State Spartans. David also thoroughly enjoyed going to the Detroit Tigers home baseball games. Transitioning to high school, he became heavily involved in the cross-country team and also the golf team. He always was around friends who had similar interest in running and cross country. He always maintained exceptional grades throughout school and knew that he could get accepted into nearly any school of his choice. Towards the end of his junior year of high school, David came to the realization that he was ready for a change in environment, so he and his family set off on a mission to find the perfect school and living area for him. He quickly grew tired of the cold weather back home in Michigan, so one of the main criteria he was looking for in a new school was a school in a more southern state with much warmer weather. David and his parent visited various schools ranging from The University of Alabama, Clemson, The University of Florida, and finally Florida State University. He instantly fell in love with the campus, weather, and surrounding area of Tallahassee. He decided to leave his home, friends, and family and pursue his further education at Florida State University. David now happily lives at an on-campus dorm and he is taking classes at FSU. He plans on pursuing a finance major where he can later on in life enter the field of investment banking.
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ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity to speak to Lexi McLellan. Lexi was born in Arizona on June 13th, 1999. Her dad was in the military so her family moved around a lot. Her dad would be gone for long periods of time so especially when she was younger, she had a hard time recognizing her dad at first. One time, she recalls when he came back with a mustache and Lexi had no idea who he was. But as time passed, she grew used to her dad’s schedule and also managed to maintain a close relationship with him. When she was two years old, Lexi moved to Virginia. Then, North Carolina at the age of three, Texas also at three, Alabama at seven, North Carolina at 13 and finally germany when she was 16 years old. In North Carolina, she met her closest friend Dom and they still keep in touch actively, even though they live far from each other. During her childhood years, she remembers bonding with her dad and sister over spongebob. She was also really active when she was younger and was involved in a lot of sports. She played soccer, flag football, and so much more. In particular, she was very talented at soccer. Since she didn’t get to see her dad too often, they would go on runs together and that was and still is their way of bonding and catching up. No matter how busy they both were, they always made time to run with each other. She played soccer even throughout high school and has picked up a couple intramural sports at Florida State. She chose to come to Florida State as a last minute option. Lexi was particularly convinced by the scholarship money she was offered for ROTC. Lexi ended up really liking Florida State; she has had some of the most cherished memories here with her friends and is glad that she decided to come here. She is currently a Psychology major and hopes to serve in the military after she graduates. She also has a pet bunny named stout who was named after the dark guinness beers.
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ReplyDeleteI was given the opportunity to interview a fellow classmate, Max Berlowitz. Max is a nineteen-year-old freshman at Florida State University and is from Miami, Florida. Max's family still lives in Florida and he has relatives from New York. Max attended Miami Country Day High School and said he played about every sport you can think of, besides lacrosse. Max's favorite sport to play is basketball and favorite to watch is football. Being from Miami, Max is a fan of teams such as the Miami Dolphins, Marlins, Heat, and Florida Panthers. His favorite professional football player is the Safety for the Miami Dolphins, Reshad Jones. Max's favorite food is sushi and enjoys watching The Office frequently. The most boring fictional character Max could think of was Spongebob, which I can agree with or with any character from that cartoon. Max chose to attend Florida State University over Indiana University mainly because of how much closer Florida State is to his family compared to Indiana. During the Fall semester, Max rushed, pledged, and became a brother for the Fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi). Max's interest and love for sports has lead him to pursue the path of a Sports Management degree for the College of Education here at Florida State University. Max hopes that after college he will have a career as a Sports Agent, which by just speaking to him I think that he can achieve that goal. Maybe one day he can represent one of his favorite players, anything is possible. Max is currently a resident at Southgate Campus Centre, next to the Sweet Shop, and is excited to be living in a off-campus house this upcoming Fall semester with some of his Fraternity brothers. He will have to share a bathroom with one other person, which is not bad to adjust to since he shares one with his current roommate, and will have his own kitchen and living room in this house, so pretty good deal. The opportunities in store for Max in the future are endless and with being a nice guy and being good with talking to people will get him far in his life.
ReplyDeleteAlex Pedraja
Recently, I got the chance to speak with Matt Middlebrooks. Matt was born on April 29th, 1999 making him 18 years old. He is a freshman who is attending Florida State University and it is his third semester here. His love for sports influenced him to pursue a major in Sport Management. He chose to attend Florida State because his parents had Florida prepaid set up for him. Florida State was simply just "the best school" in his opinion. He was actually the first person ever from his high school to go on and attend Florida State. Matt grew up in the city of Jacksonville, Florida. He resided in Jacksonville for ten years until his family relocated up north. His family made the move to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania due to his father's job promotion which forced them relocate. He was in fifth grade when he had to adjust to a new life in a different state. Although he moved quite a while back, he did not forget about all the wonderful friends he made back in Jacksonville. Matt still continues to keep in touch with his friends with the help of cell phones and social media. He has one sister who is younger than him, she is currently a freshman in high school. Growing up, Matt played basketball and football. He continued to play these sports throughout the duration of his high school years. Downing Town High School is the high school in Philadelphia that he attended. Basketball was the sport that he played all four years, but he only got to play football two of his four years. Shattering his arm while playing football lead him to have surgery where metal rods got put into his arm, which he still has in today. It took him a year to recover from this injury because he had to go through physical therapy after his surgery. Back home in Philadelphia, he obtained a job at Dicks Sporting Goods. He does not currently work there in Tallahassee because he got a different job working for Campus Rec where he is a basketball referee.
ReplyDeleteTarren Pearson was born in a small town in Virginia called Fort Myer. Currently, his mom is a spinal surgery nurse, and his dad is in the military, having been in both the army and navy branch. Because of his dad’s career, he’s accustomed to moving around a lot. I asked him how he felt about moving, and he said it had its ups and downs. Being able to see new places and meet new people was great, but having to make new friends every time and adjust to the very different climates was sometimes hard. Starting in Virginia, Tarren moved to Oregon, and then Washington, and eventually winding up in Boca, Florida. While Virginia was a nice mild climate, Washington was always rainy, and now Florida is constantly hot. As for siblings, he has 2 step siblings, both younger than him, and two half siblings, both older than him. We talked about being the middle child, and he said he enjoyed the dynamic of being able to learn things from his older siblings and teaching his younger siblings these lessons. His childhood was split between spending time in Washington with his mom, and Oregon with his dad. Going into his middle and high school days, he played soccer for his school team with some of his closest friends, until he had broken his hand which prevented him from continuing. To fill his time after his injury, class government and leadership kept him occupied in high school. Tarren said meeting cool and different people and being a part of a club made his high school days extremely enjoyable, contrary to most people’s experiences. In terms of hobbies, he enjoys playing video games and making music. Drake, Post Malone, and Kendrick Lamar are amongst his favorite artists, but as a kid he’s been exposed to all different genres, ranging from country music to EDM. Fast forward to his college days, he’s attending FSU as a criminology major in hopes to join an agency one day like the FBI. He decided to go to school in Florida because, aside from his dad living around 6 hours away in south Florida, he likes exploring new environments and seeing all the world has to offer. After seeing many different states, he hopes to continue this and go overseas sometime in his future.
ReplyDeleteAfter given a great opportunity to interview one of my classmates (Alex Pedraja), I got to learn a lot of things about him. Alex was born in Hollywood, Florida and attended Western high school. His family has a variety of backgrounds which include cuban and irish. Growing up his favorite sport to play and watch was football. Sadly, his favorite team to watch in the NFL is the miami dolphins. I only say sadly because they will of course suck again this upcoming year. After asking him who his favorite football player to watch, he said Jarvis Landry. I remember him saying that even though he is on a different team now, he is still my favorite player to watch on T.V. However, the T.V. show he watches the most and loves the most is the new show called rick and morty. After I asked him what kind of food would he willingly eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday, he chose a piece of chicken because of its high protein and amazing flavor. Back at home, Alex had a job working for his local chick fil a restaurant. After applying to colleges, he was choosing between FSU and UCF. After visiting both he had a really hard decision on where to go to school. He finally came to a realization and realized that he likes FSU more than UCF. Now that he is a freshman in college, he is still trying to become passionate about something because he does not know what to pursue when he is older. The next step in order to become passionate about a job is switching into that major. So what Alex did recently was he switched into the engineer major at FSU.
ReplyDeleteMax Berlowitz
I had the privilege of interviewing Kristin Piotrowski. Kristin is from Winter Park, Florida. Winter Park is right in between Tampa and Florida. Kristin is the youngest of 3 children. Her siblings already have children and she already is an Aunt to a niece and two nephews. Kristin’s favorite color has always been pink. Growing up, Kristin loved cheerleading. She cheered all of high school and loved what she did. One time during a summer cheer camp she got a serious black eye that stuck with her for a good while. Her best friends were named Ana and Allison. They loved hanging out and having fun in their free time. So much that even today all three go to Florida State together and still hang out. In high school Kristin worked as a office assistant, and to add to that she could also be listed as a babysitter because included in her job sometimes was babysitting the bosses child. Kristin is good at making tacos, and enjoys to make them because they are simple. Her favorite show to watch is Grey’s Anatomy, the medical drama series. Kristin recently purchased a new puppy. She knew that she wanted a sweet dog, so she purchased a black golden doodle. Phoebe, now just 4 months old, is the sweetest girl and Kristin has trained her to be a very well rounded pup. When going out, Kristin enjoys going to The Strip or recess with friends. When asked about going out, she stated, “I love to go out with my friends and make the best of memories. We love to talk, dance and just have a great time”. With her major, Kristin looks to become a elementary school teacher. She is great with children and hopes to teach kids in the kindergarden to third grade range.
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate to learn more about and listen to some unique life experiences of Julianne Hyunseung Lee. Julianne was born on Christmas in July in 1999 in Miami Gardens. Since she was one, she and her family of four resided in Cooper City. Given the opportunity to move when she was a little older, Julie was adamant about staying in the same house she grew up in even though the move was just across town. Growing up she did not have any pets but, she does have a little brother and no matter how annoying he is, she loves him very much. Julie’s parents were very protective of her and her brother. She and her brother had limited time watching television. Julie’s mother thought certain shows like SpongeBob were annoying but, approved of many classic Disney Channel shows such as Suite Life, Shake it Up, and Sunny with a Chance. Julianne’s father owns a successful whig business which was one of the first in the country ran by Julie’s grandfather. Every time her father comes home from a business trip, he would trap little Julie in his arms. He was arguably the most protective parent when Julie became of age to date, as any father would. Throughout her years in high school, Julianne started devoting more and more time to the band where she played the flute. She became so strong in her band program that she began taking serious leadership roles at Cooper City High School Band Program. It was nice for Julie to have this as an outlet but, it was time to let go and focus on her next chapter in life, Florida State University. Florida State was a safety school for Julianne and Ruckers in New Jersey was her first choice but, she continues to find her place in her new home and each month that goes by, another club shows up on her resume. Another outlet Julie turned to in times of stress was her cardio workouts. She loves to run, no matter what was going on, Julie always made time to put on some motivational hip-hop or rap music while her size six and a half sneakers hit the pavement. Her studies were another important thing to Julie. Although she was strong in all subjects, all classes relating to the medical field interested her. She continues to study all sorts of science with the hope of becoming Doctor Lee in the future.
ReplyDeleteAlonso Mendoza was born in Lima, Peru on October 22, 1998 with his twin brother. He lived in Peru until the age of 8 when his family moved to New Jersey. Up until the age of 13, Alonso had acclimated to American customs and made many friends. They would do parkour around the neighborhood and break into houses, yet his record is allegedly clean. In 2012, Alonso's dad was transferred to Florida for his job. This was somewhat devastating for Alonso because he had created such strong bonds with the people he met. In fact, his parents sent him back for 2 weeks because the move was so hard on him. His first impression of Florida was that it was way too hot. After a few months, however, Alonso made new friends and met a girl named Valentina. They met through soccer and have been dating for 5 years now. Although they went to different high schools, Cooper City and Cypress Bay, their relationship persisted.
ReplyDeleteWhen it was time to apply for college, Florida State was not Alonso's first choice. He strived to attend the University of Virginia and that school in the swamp called the University of Florida. However, he was deferred from UVA and denied from UF, which stimulated his decision to go to Florida State. He currently studies biomedical engineering, and his dream is to become a neurosurgeon. Although he stated, "The university doesn't make you. You make the university," meaning it all just depends on the opportunities you take, Alonso plans on transferring. It's between UF and Georgia Tech because of the competitive nature and work ethic that radiates among students. Also, Valentina goes to Georgia Tech, so that's a plus in his eyes. Getting good grades is the most important thing to him at the moment so that his resume looks good for Medical School. If Medical School doesn't work out for Alonso, he'll still be an engineer. He is happy with that because he loves mathematics and science. This summer he'll be living in Ohio with his girlfriend because she has an internship there. He's excited to cook for Valentina and explore the state with her.
I interviewed Charlene Forti. She was born on January 18, 1999 in Davie, Florida and lived there until she was four years old. She then moved to Coral Springs because they had a better schooling system there than they did in Davie. Her mom is originally from the Philippines and her dad is from New York, so she is Italian, Polish, and Philippine. Growing up, she had no brothers or sisters and she had a cat for sixteen years, even though her and her mother are allergic to cats. After her cat passed away, she found a lizard while out one day and her and her mom brought it to the pet store where they were told it would die out on its own, so Charlene and her mom decided to keep it as their new pet.
ReplyDeleteDuring her middle school years she began to swim for the Coral Spring swim club for a few years. She then took a break from sports until her Junior year of high school where she began swimming once again and also joined the Water Polo team. In swimming she competed it the 100 meter freestyle and the 400 meter freestyle relay. She loved Water polo because it was the first team sport she did and she liked it so much she did not even mind going to 6 am practices.
When she came to Florida State in the fall she joined Delta Zeta after meeting some of the members of the sorority through a mutual friend. She also picked up her new favorite hobby, rockclimbing, in the fall. While taking an astronomy lab, her TA and other friends constantly mentioned how fun rockclimbing was for them and she wanted to try it. Now she goes to the Tallahassee rock gym several times a week, and wants to eventually be able to rock climb outdoors on mountains. She is a Human Resources Management major, though she may switch to a Philosophy major after debating whether or not that was what she wanted to do coming into Florida State, and she is hoping she can figure out what exactly she wants to do after college.
A New Jersey native, Travis Ardin was born in Denville on March 1st, 1999. He grew up in Rockaway, a town with a little over six thousand people, where his father served as the chief of police and his mother as the payroll manager of a propane company. He played as the left fielder for baseball at his high school and even got an offer from Washington College to play for them. Having a couple of options to go to smaller schools for college, Travis knew he did not want to stay in New Jersey for the next four years of his life and so he applied to the University of South Carolina, as well as other larger universities. However, USC did not get back to him as quickly as Florida State University did and that brings us to Travis’ current life here at FSU. Despite having a car here on campus, Travis prefers to deal with the daily parking hassle as little as possible and thus walks to all of his classes. Residing in apartment-style McCollum Hall on the west corner of campus with three other roommates, Travis is majoring in Accounting, a subject he is comfortable with and knows he will have a secure future in. Ideally he would like to work as the general manager of a baseball team and is looking into double majoring in Sports Management as well. Although Travis is not currently in any clubs, he is involved with and passionate about his fraternity’s IM softball team. Regarding his decision to join Greek life, Travis sought to build lasting friendships seeing that he was an out-of-state student and a freshman in college. The fraternity of Beta Theta Pi is where Travis found his new brothers, the people he felt most at home with. Sometimes waking up is a struggle but at least three times a week Travis will get up at 6 am to go to the gym either with his brothers or by himself and start his day early. It’s on these days that Travis feels the best and is the most productive.
ReplyDeleteToday I had the opportunity to interview myself and get to explore my past a little more. My name is Samantha Rios and I was born December 1st 1997 at 10pm in Kendall Regional Hospital. For this reason I believe that I am a night owl. As soon as I was born all of my aunts and uncles came to visit me in the hospital and I had my first experience meeting my huge Cuban family. I was born into a very cuban family actually making me the first generation to be born in America, but one can say that living in Miami is basically Cuba part two. I later went on to elementary school where I was one of the first kids to start reading. When I was in Kindergarten I was able to read the level 10 books while most people were on level 1-5. In elementary school I went onto having some of the most AR book sores and would always get stickers everytime I finished a new book. Soon enough I had a little sister names Vicki who is 2 years younger than me. Vicki is cool but we have always had extremely different personalities which caused us to fight a lot in grade school. When I got to middle school I applies to be in a dance magnet and danced all my years in middle school for 2 hours a day. At the same time I was very involved in the sport of cheerleading becoming an all star cheerleader for 5 years with the Top Gun allstars. I was always one of the most flexible people in my team and love to do lots of jumps and flips. Midway through high school i quit cheerleading because believe it or not it was very competitive and exhausting but I continues dance all four years of high school. In my opinion high school sucked! I transferred from a public middle school to an expensive private school and felt like a fish out of water. I did poorly in my clases as everyone just expected me to have a subpar education and I fell into the stereotype. When I graduated high school I felt like a new world had opened up to me. I went on to attend the Florida State university where I have excelled in all of my classes earning a 3.81 GPA and loosing over 30 pounds. Now all my old haters ask me how I do it. I have slowly learned that school comes first and my future means everything to me now. I have goals of becoming a doctor and as of now nothing is stopping me. Im happy to say that I am currently living my life to the fullest and I couldn't be happier.
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ReplyDeleteKamaren Sandhu was born in Chicago Illinois, and he spent the first seventeen years of his life there until moving to Orlando Florida his senior year of high school. This was a big move for him and his family, and it required a lot of getting used to. The biggest hurdle for him was meeting new people, because he came to Orlando not knowing anyone. One aspect of Florida that he preferred was the warmer weather and no snow, which was a big change from the harsh winters of Chicago. What he misses the most about Chicago is family, friends, and the food. He still keeps in touch with friends and family back in Chicago, and he tries to visit when he finds time. Right now, Kamaren is nineteen years old and a Freshmen at Florida State University. When originally deciding on where he wanted to attend college, he thought about going to schools back in the Chicago area but chose not to. He is currently an Exploratory major, but is interested in either the Computer Science or STEM programs at FSU. School is a top priority for him, so he always makes sure that he stays on top of his school work. Kameren’s parents are from England, and he still has family that lives there. He also has an older brother. In his free time, he really enjoys playing golf and can be found at the FSU course almost every day. He has experience playing in competitive golf with hopes to be a walk on for the FSU golf team one day. Kameren likes watching basketball, soccer, and golf when he can, and is a huge Golden State Warriors fan. He does not watch a lot of TV, but when he does he usually watches The Game of Thornes. Although, he struggles sometimes to keep up with all episodes that come out. He also likes to play Xbox, and usually plays either 2k or FortNite. His favorite music genres are hip hop and pop, some of his favorite artists are Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, Drake, and Future.
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