Leila S., Senior – Interview conducted by Joseph Shelby
Wednesday, February 1st, 2023, 12:00 p.m.: Assembly has ended, and my ears still ring with the eruption of laughter caused by the Bad Jokes Club. I sit on the steps in front of the commons as I try to pinpoint my interviewee from the crowd of busy students. Suddenly, she emerges from the crowd, I click record. “Welcome Leila.” The interview has begun…
Joseph: If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, which song would you choose?
Leila: Oooh, that’s really difficult. Probably something by beabadoobee. I really love her. Ummm, and maybe “She Plays Bass” since I’m trying to learn how to play the bass right now, and I feel like if I walked into a room and that always played, then it would really commit to actually learning how to play the bass.
Joseph: Don’t you think it would get a little annoying at times?
Leila: Like I really love beebadoobee though. I also want people to know when I walk in that that girl plays bass.
Joseph: Okay, that’s a good answer. What is something unique about you that your classmates might not know?
Leila: Hmmm, actually, I don’t think anybody knows this. I collect little miniature glass figures.
Joseph: Oh, cool, what type?
Leila: Anything really. Like, I have a little strawberry shortcake, one that’s like a little bee. I’ve just been doing it since I was really little and it just brings me a lot of joy.
Joseph: How many glass figures would you say you have now?
Leila: Probably in the mid-20s, but they’re like really tiny.
Joseph: What’s your favorite one?
Leila: Probably, this little mouse. Actually, I have two little mice, and I think that they’re friends and I have a really good time with that.
Joseph: So you said you started when you were really young?
Leila: Yeah, not like really young, but when I was seven or eight or something.
Joseph: Okay, is it a hobby you’d encourage other people to start?
Leila: Definitely. It just brings me so much joy.
Joseph: I’ll have to try out miniature glass figure collecting in the near future I guess. Okay, looking back at your experience at CPS, what is something you will never forget? So this can be an event, an experience, a memory, maybe people, a teacher, whatever you’d like to say.
Leila: I don’t know. Probably my friends. I have a really close, small circle of friends that I’ve been friends with since the beginning of school and we’ve just grown closer and into better people. Those are people that I’m going to talk to for the rest of my life and that’s just really valuable to me. I think that’s a little more vague and not really a specific experience though.
Joseph: Do you have a moment that you spent with them or maybe just the most fun you’ve had with them?
Leila: Most fun? Oh my gosh, prom was pretty fun. And not even prom though, but getting ready before prom. We got to the city really early and we like walked around, and we went to all these parks and took these pictures and looked really good and stuff. That was just pretty memorable for me. Just the experience pre-prom and like, being with other people was really fun.
Joseph: How did post-prom go, or did everything just fall off from there?
Leila: (laughing) It was a little more interesting, but definitely pre-prom was a lot more fun.
Joseph: Okay, sure, we can leave that behind. So, what are you looking forward to in the future?
Leila: Um, I’m looking forward to just like, exploring so many aspects of myself. Like, I feel like in high school it’s easy to get pretty pigeonholed into a few different special subjects because you want to be really good at something. I’m excited though to have so many options. Like, I’m interested in psychology, and I also took one ceramics class, and I really want to take another one.
Joseph: Would you ever want to do glass blowing?
Leila: Yeah, I actually did that! I want to do that again tho and get back into it. But definitely exploring aspects of myself that I haven’t really gotten to think about.
Joseph: Okay, this last question is my own personal brain child, so here it is. If you could say thank you to one room at CPS, which one would it be?
Leila: Ooooh, probably the auditorium. I’ve just spent so much time in that place. I’ve been in drama tech since my first semester here, and I’ve been there since quarantine and everything. I just feel more connected to that room than any other room on campus. Just because of the sheer amount of time and like, blood, sweat, and tears I’ve shed in that room.
Joseph: Yeah, it’s all gonna be there until the end of time.
Leila: Exactly, my whole spirit has been there. So, thank you auditorium.
Joseph: Alright, and that’s the last question. Thanks for showing up and I’ll see you around!
Leila: Yeah, this was awesome. Thanks for the interview!
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