Interview conducted by Grace Triantafyllos
Tuesday, October 10, 1:15pm: During a quiet free period, we sit at the shady table beneath the stairs to the Hill Building. I click record.
Grace: What’s something that you’re passionate about?
Sarai: Definitely drama. I’ve always been really into drama. I started doing CPS drama in sophomore year, but I did, like, musical theater in middle school. I was a huge Hamilton fan. It was really embarrassing. But yeah, I just really like acting. I really like the whole, like…I guess the technical part of it, of, like, having to immerse yourself into a different person, and then also just the community is really fun. Yeah…like 90% of my friends come from CPS drama. So yeah, definitely drama.
Grace: Okay. So, next question: what's one of your favorite songs?
Sarai: Okay, I had to look it up before we started, but right now it's “Beg For The Torture” by Destroy Boys. They just came out with an album—or, not an album. They just came out with, like, two songs, I think today or yesterday, and I've been listening to [them] all day. It is so good…Destroy Boys—like, you've listened to their music, right?
Grace: Yeah.
Sarai: There's a lot more screaming in this one, which is cool. I've been really into songs where people scream.
Grace: It’s that kind of year.
Sarai: Yeah, it’s definitely that kind of year. Because, like, they can scream for me. And then I don't have to, like, burst my vocal pipes.
Grace: Absolutely. A good, like, sympathetic scream. That’s what we need.
Sarai: Yeah, like I don't know if I can say it, but, “All American B****” by Olivia Rodrigo. Like, that scream… That scream!
Grace: I love it so much. No, when she’s like, “I know my place…”
Sarai and Grace: [whisper screaming] “And this is it!”
Grace: Real. Um, and what’s one item on your bucket list?
Sarai: That's a great question. I don't know if I have a bucket list. I think I want to visit, like, all the places in the world before they sink, or [before] they sink into the water, because you know how the oceans are rising?
Grace: Dark, but real.
Sarai: I want to see places before they're underwater. Like, Spain is definitely one of them. And I want to see—I've always wanted to go to Greece. Like, just the Mediterranean area. It's always been really interesting to me and I haven't traveled much. So definitely travel.
Grace: Yeah. It's a dark outlook, but a real one. Okay. Now we get to, like, the deep, reflective part. How have you changed during your time at CPS?
Sarai: Ooh. Sometimes I feel like I'm a completely different person than I was when I started. I was a very anxious freshman. I'm still very anxious, but I think, like…I've gotten a lot more support over the years. And, like, gone on medication. That's definitely helped. But I was…I don't know. I was very shy. I also had a really huge expectation of what high school was going to be like, and Zoom definitely upended a lot of that, but even when we came to in-person [school] it was still nothing [like] what I expected. And I'm an only child so I don't have, like, a background of what high school is like, so I just assumed it was like what it’s like in movies. And it's definitely not. It's very much not what it's like in movies, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, I think. I feel like I've gotten a little bit more comfortable with being myself and I guess interacting with people and not being as scared of what people might say or think because, like, I feel like in the long run, it's like, who cares? It's high school. Like, a lot of these people, hopefully I'll see again, but there's a good chance I won't. Yeah, and so I don't know, I guess [I’m] definitely less shy than I used to be.
Grace: And, like, when you say you had expectations that high school would be like the movies, like, what cliche high school elements were you most expecting?
Sarai: I thought it was, like, the whole shebang, like I was gonna go to parties—also, I don't know why I expected this going to College Prep. Like, I fully applied to this school thinking full on like, “Yeah, I'm gonna go to parties every weekend. And I'm gonna like, I'm gonna do all this crazy stuff. And I'm gonna like—” I don't know… I don't know how to explain it. “I'm gonna have a huge friend group, and we're gonna, like, hang out by the…we’re gonna, like, jump fences and, like, do crazy stuff as teenagers.” And I've done, like, maybe 1% of what I've seen on TV. Yeah. I think I had a very rigid expectation of high school. I do think that the pandemic has definitely shaped some of the things I've done and how I've interacted with people, obviously, because our grade probably was one of the most weirdly affected so far, but yeah. I had a very skewed idea [of high school]. I think a lot of people did. People I've talked to before [were] like, “Yeah, I also thought I would be going to parties every weekend,” and most weekends I stay home and I watch Love is Blind. Love is Blind is great, by the way. That's my other recommendation.
Grace: Yeah, people keep talking about love is blind. I’m like, maybe I need to get into reality TV shows.
Sarai: You need to watch it. It is so good. Because everyone on there is like—it's like, why would you ever go on a show like that? Just the premise is so horrendous that it's astonishing that people audition to go on. But it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful chaos.
Grace: Okay, final question. What's one of your favorite College Prep memories?
Sarai: Oh, okay, I have two. Can I do two?
Grace: You can do two! Yeah!
Sarai: Ok. My first one is the first Zine Club meeting that we ever had, just because I was super… I never thought I'd be a club leader. I've always been like, “I'm too nervous to speak in front of people to be a club leader.” But like, being able to manage and run a club, especially something that I'm really passionate about…was really cool, and the fact that people are even interested is also awesome. So yeah, definitely the first Zine Club meeting. And then I think my second favorite memory is probably…I want to say Junior retreat. Junior retreat was really nice…I feel like that was the first time everyone actually got to know each other in the grade, because we were kind of…I don't know, there's still people I barely talk to in our grade, and our grade is tiny. But that was the first retreat where I feel like everyone kind of, like…stuff kind of got more cohesive. Yeah, I just had a really good time with my friends, and… there was a rat in our cabin, and that was cute.
Grace: Oh my god, you were in the rat cabin!
Sarai: I was in the rat cabin! I was not there, but I was walking up when they saw it. It was really fun. It's a really fun time.
Grace: Yeah, I remember being so confused. I was like, what is actually happening? What did y’all do?
Sarai: We had to move! We moved cabins. We moved to a new cabin that didn't have a rat in it. And then we were fine. But like…
Grace: Who spotted the rat?
Sarai: I can't remember. I genuinely can't remember. You're gonna have to ask another…you're gonna have to ask all the seniors.
Grace: Okay, thank you for sitting down for this lovely chat!
Sarai: This was so fun!