Seniors of CPS: Sean Kelly

Interview conducted by Surina P. '27

I meet Sean at lunch in the courtyard on Thursday, February 5, 2026. It’s 12:25PM, and the interview begins. 

Surina: Hey, Sean, you ready for your seniors of CPS interview?

Sean: Oh, definitely. Let's get going, Surina. I'm excited for this!

Surina: Great, let's start with some rapid-fire questions. First, is a hot dog a sandwich?

Sean: Is a hot dog a sandwich? [pauses] Who cares? I like hot dogs though, they're pretty good.

Surina: What’s the best way to spend a rainy day?

Sean: Probably going outside for a little bit, getting wet, and coming back inside, and then, like, heating yourself up. It's pretty comfortable.

Surina: That is pretty nice. Next question: what's your favorite shape of pasta?

Sean: Ooh. I like elbows. I feel like that's a classic choice.

Surina: In, like, mac and cheese? Or just everything?

Sean: Everything. I like the little butterfly ones too. Like, they have the things at the end and they’re pinched in the middle.

Surina: Those are good. What's your favorite article of clothing? 

Sean: I like socks. They're pretty nice. 

Surina: Okay, now time for some longer response questions. What's something that not a lot of people know about you?

Sean: I'd like to think I'm something of an open book, but when I was younger, I used to do Aikido, like the martial art. I started when I was about seven years old. I made my way up to, like, a junior black belt in that. So I spent a good deal of time, but unfortunately you have to be 16 to actually get a black belt. So, really, I ended up stopping it. I never quite made it to that last step. Nowadays, I couldn't do anything with Aikido. Those were the days.

Surina: That's pretty cool, though!  I know you transferred kind of recently, but what's one of your favorite CPS memories?

Sean: I feel like it’s more of a genre of memory when you're like, kind of joking around with your friends and somebody says something funny, and you all just get into a good mood. Like you're all really smart for whatever reason that day, and you just end up, like, riffing off of each other. I can think of a couple times in the last year when something like that happened, and it just leads to a really great time. You know that you're on fire.

Surina: Yeah, you get in that flow state.

Sean: Lowkenuinely.

Surina: Okay, time for the last question: where do you see yourself in five years?

Sean: Hopefully having graduated from college and doing something good in the world. 

Surina: Awesome. Thanks, Sean! 

Sean: All right. Thank you, Surina.

Sean as a freshman.