Senior Spotlight: Jared Williams (12-4)
Anna O’Neill-Dietel (12-3)
Photo courtesy of Jared Williams (12-4)
What is the best part of virtual school?
Definitely coming to school in pajama pants. First, second period I just sit down at the table and drink my cup of coffee.
What were you looking forward to most senior year?
I was looking forward to Spirit week and dodgeball. With Spirit week I feel like there’s more spirit senior year because we’re like the leaders of the team. Every year I feel like with dodgeball we think we’re going to win, but we just never did. I was hoping this year we could pull out a win. The junior senior game is also always fun. It was fun playing last year. I was hoping this year we’d actually win after that sad defeat. We’ll discuss after we actually lost… that's different! I was hoping we’d do some of those senior traditions.
You participate in many activities at Masterman. How has that experience been?
I started doing virtual poetry hosted by Tatiana. That’s really fun. Last year poetry wasn’t as prominent and because it got cut off we didn’t have much time. Everyone should check it out. You can either email Tatiana or Ms. Avelin. I’m also in Step Club. It’s kinda tough even just learning the steps. But virtually you get to see your classmates and your old teachers so that’s really nice.
What is your funniest memory of Masterman?
JV Basketball practice in Freshman year I was with Yuan, Noel, and Colin. Yuan had just put lotion on, so the whole practice we were passing the ball and his hands were slippery and he couldn't catch anything. The whole practice the coach was yelling at him because he couldn't catch anything. It just wasn’t a good experience, but we laughed about it later.
You play squash competitively. What have been some highlights, and how has the lockdown affected your sport?
My top highlight was coming into sophomore year. I was ranked 120 in the nation, which was the highest I’ve ever been ranked in high school, so i was really happy with that. I was also top 100 in eighth grade.
It’s been tough because before I was really heavily invested in squash. During the summer it’s six days a week that I'm practicing, it can be a solid four times a week during the school year. It's been my routine since fifth grade so I’m not used to staying at home, being stagnant. At one point we got to go back about a month ago for about three weeks, but because of quarantine I haven’t played again since. I definitely regressed, that was not fun. You do what you can at home, you bounce a ball on the wall, try and get the most out of at-home workouts. It hurts to stop playing. And it hurts to watch others who are able to keep playing or watch old tapes, but it is what it is.
I know you’re a big dog person. What are your thoughts on going college without a dog?
That’s going to be the worst! I love my dog. She’s an Australian shepherd and a lab mix. I’m going to miss her, she’s so cute. I always come home and she greets me and runs to the door. It’s nice to be around someone who’s always so energetic and happy. It makes me want to get up and do something. She’s really a stress reliever. I’m going to miss her. I’ve had her since she was a puppy so it will be new. Because I don’t really remember what it’s like not having a dog.
If you could add any class to Masterman, what would it be?
I would invent a financial literacy class. Right now financials and stocks are really interesting to me. I know people getting into stocks and cryptocurrencies. I know some, but I’d like to know more. I see people making it big, but Wallstreet is a big place. I want to know more about it.
On the more fun side, I think a baking class would be really nice. Especially around this time, people always start baking cookies and cakes.
If you could give one piece of advice to your freshman self, what would it be?
Stay organized! Definitely stay organized. That has helped me so much, having folders. I wish I listened earlier in fifth grade when we were told to bring our pocket portfolios around. I think that’s going to be really helpful in college, and I think as long as long as you’re organized, everything goes smoothly. If you don’t know something, you can always learn.
What are your hopes and dreams for after high school?
I get to a college where I feel happy and fit in. I feel like here at Masterman everybody’s pretty gang and pretty nice. We value kindness. I want to go to a college that’s pretty similar. I want to study something STEM related, I don’t know what yet, maybe computer engineering, chemical engineering, or chemistry. Something STEM. I just want to enjoy college the best I can. I want to get a doctorate one day. That’s my biggest goal right now. As for squash, I think it’s going to be a forever thing. I love squash. Even if I’m not playing competitively, it's so much fun. It’s a nice way to stay active, you can play with your friends. I figure I’ll always play squash. Whether or not I play it in college will depend on where I go to. We’ll see, I’m hoping I can play in college.