Senior Spotlight: Henry Roberts-Poyourow (12-3)
Isabel Portner (12-3)
Photo courtesy of Isabel Portner (12-3)
If you could be a character in a novel or movie series of your choice, who would you be?
I really would have wanted to be one of the extras in Master and Commander which is a really great war movie about British sailors. I would have wanted to be one of the people who climbed up on the rigging, hauled in all the lines and do all the sailing. They used pretty much a one to one replica of the ship in the movie, which is really really cool.
Word goes around that you are a big fan of the newly released movie Dune. What are your thoughts on the Dune movie?
I really like it. My dad encouraged me to read the book, or at least half of it before it came out. I did that and I think it was a really great adaptation and there are very few scenes that I found were missing. I’ve very much enjoyed it in the three times I've seen it and I would - and have encouraged - many people to go watch it. There’s actually an excellent Dune board game which was made in the 80’s and recently got a reprint. (*wink*)
What is something you could talk about for hours?
Tall ships. I recently in May began working on a tall ship called the Gazela, which is one here in Philly. And, essentially, tall ships are old, historical sailing ships. They went on since the mid to late 1800’s - and were the primary sea based vessel of the time. There's a bunch of tall ships around now and they're often associated with volunteering peer groups and museums. They are beautiful boats. The Gazela is a 1903 portuguese cod fishing barquentine meaning it’s got three masts, the fourth mast being the closest to the front is square rigged - meaning it is a big square sail. I believe its last commercial sailing was in the 60’s or 70's, which is pretty late for tall ships. It's a lot of fun working there because it's sort of history related, it also satisfies my interest in sailing - which I got from camp. There's also opportunities to do word working, painting and sail maintenance.
Photo courtesy of Isabel Portner (12-3)
What do you enjoy about camp? When did you begin going to camp?
I've been going to a summer camp (North Country Camps) in the Adirondacks in New York since the summer before fifth grade, so 2014. I actually didn't have a great time in the first two weeks because I couldn't find an activity I liked - but when I tried out sailing and I was like this is awesome, I'm going to keep doing this and every single day that I could I made it a point to do at least one hour of sailing. I've kept this up till 2019, which was my final year as a camper. Then I went back in 2021 as a dishwasher and essentially assistant sailing counselor.
Who is your role model?
I don't really have a role model. I'm not a really big individuals person. This is sort of tied into Dune I guess, but the idea of the Dune series is that heroes are bad for a culture and society because it becomes too attached to them and they go on to lead a society into bad places.
What is by far your favorite subject in school? Why?
I am interested in political science and specifically idelogolifes, but most of the time the only class we have that relates to this is History. So, History is my favorite subject - especially AP Gov. I like talking about history in more of a political aspect.
What do you plan to major in/do in college?
I am thinking of doing political science and a minor in urban studies. I kinda want to work in urban planning because I don’t want to be a public elected official, because I dont think I'm that great at public speaking. In the social and political lens, I’d be interested in seeing how the neighborhoods and the people that live in them would be affected by urban planning - and trying to make sure that they are always accounted for when new stuff is built or demolished and changed.
What are you looking forward to this thanksgiving/holiday season?
Well, I really like board games, so anytime where I'm not doing anything I encourage my parents to play board games. Over the Pandemic, since I couldn't have friends over to play, I've managed to teach them a bunch of games. We all really like a game called Root which is a really cool, more simple hex and counter wargame. It has woodland creatures as factions - like you've got the marqui de cat which are the cat industrialists, and the woodland alliance who are the guerrilla partisans of the people of he woodland, and the eyrie dynasties which are old ruling order of birds and the vagabond who is a raccoon who does around doing quests. The crows are in the mafia and there's a lizard cult. I'm a really big fan of “modern” board games. I've been playing games with my dad since second grade. I've also played Twilight struggle and Memoir 44. You can play a free version of these games on Tabletop Simulator on STEAM, if you don't want to spend a lot of money on games.