Eoin- Hello!
Eamon- Hello.
Eoin- How are you?
Eamon- Good, how are you?
Eoin- I’m great! What is your name?
Eamon- My name is Eamon Kelly.
Eoin- Eamon Kelly, ok, I am going to ask you a few questions here. What is your earliest memory?
Eamon- Ok, so this is pretty shocking, My earliest memory, I actually remember being in the hospital the day I was born and my uncle making silly faces at me. Thats basically the first thing I remember.
Eoin- You have a really good memory apparently. Quick! What did you wear last week on this day?
Eamon- Blue shirt.
Eoin- Blue shirt. Nice. Ok, next question, what was the funniest moment of your life?
Eamon- Well there are so many, so I’m just going to list one. The funniest moment, would have to be, when we scared one of my friends. It was really funny, we got like eight people to help me out on this. We scared her, and she fell to the ground all shocked and stuff, and then we laughed so hard, all eight of us fell down.
Eoin- Nice. Ok. What was the happiest moment of your life, and why?
Eamon- The happiest moment of my life would have to be going to my Junior Prom, because I got to spend so much time with my friends, my date, and it was just a really good time. Dancing with everybody and some great music.
Eoin- Like the Harlem Shake?
Eamon- No, like the Carlton Dance.
Interviewer: Epifanio Rios
Interviewee: RaVaana
What is the most exciting thing you’ve done?
The most exciting thing i have done was rowing. - What about it was exciting? Everything. The most exciting part of it is getting to race. What did you like about it? I liked the feeling of beating someone, I can explain but i would say was, how hard i pushed my self and getting eat after the race.
What is your earliest memory?
My earliest memory is when my parents and I have went to florida, you know those beach bikes on. what makes it so memorable? The fact that it was at night.
What does your perfect day look like?
Is getting everything I ask for, i guess, everything going my way. The thing I worry about the most is my hair, if it is messed up I will have a horrible day and if I do not eat I will cranky.
How would you like to be remembered?
as a kind and happy and sometimes weird person. Because that how I see myself as and I would like others too.
Describe your relationship with your family.
It is really good, but i do not keep in touch with many of my cousins, like when we go to family reunions it is like meeting each other for the first time again. I would say this because my mom doesn't really like the neighborhood and would rather much have them come to us. Allot are older than me so basically i'm the youngest.
Where do you see yourself in the future?
I dont really know, I would hope to have my career in business and have the hair salon I always wanted. I was about 7 , because it was the first time I played with one of those hair makins, I used to play with them allot and i managed to cut all the hair off, I thought I knew what I was doing, i was trying to give it a short cut but it kept coming out uneven so I thought if i did this it would come out even.
Who is the biggest influence in your life?
I kind of think it would be my brother, but i dont know how to explain. So he hates when I have chipped nail polished so he influenced me to not walk around without my nails being done. He taught me how to do my hair kind of, tie my shoes, write in cursive, he taught me to draw stars and hearts when I was younger. My mother was very busy with taking care of my older sister, and my dad was not home allot, He was also my favorite sibling. Yes. Hmh when he went to college I cried a lot when he came to visit and had to go back I would cry a lot. Yes. Idk, very.
What makes you happy?
Allot of things make me happy. being able to be myself around friends makes me happy, having friends who understand me, they call me weird but I like being weird, also applesauce makes you happy. Because I mean everyone needs friends to make them happy, i guess.
If you could change something in the world in a snap, what would it be?
Better living conditions for everyone and every being equal. Because I feel like some people who live in bad areas do not get as many opportunities as people in the suburbs or treated unfairly or that currently they are seen as though they matter compared to someone with allot of money. I think it is this was because money equals power.
Tell me a story about your name?
When i was about to be born my parents were in the elevator with my aunt but my mom wanted to name me Raven, but my dad said like in the bible a raven is a dirty bird, then my aunt came up with the name RaVanna. There was this boy in school this boy kind of made a nickname and called me RaVanaa Donna, and my mom and my sister started calling me that.
If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be?
“I would travel to paris because I have family there.”
Who is the biggest influence in your life?
“My mother because she always been there for me.”
How would you like to be remembered?
“I dont want to be remembered as bad I want to be remembered as good.”
What are your expectations for your personal future?
"I just want to be happy when I get older like right now, to me since I'm like a teenager and I'm just figuring out that the physical things are like not what actually make you happy I just want to be successful when I get older and be able to look back and be happy with myself and what I've done."
Well, what makes you happy?
"A lot of people make me happy, I like to tell myself that shopping and money and material things make me make happy, but when it comes down to it, that's not really true like it's more like positive influences make me happy."
Does your personal live affect your academic life?
"Yeah I think my personal life heavily affects my academic life because usually if I'm going through something which is like all the time then, my grades will really suffer so... yeah."
How do you describe yourself as a person?
“Loving, caring, understanding…..I treat people the way I want to be treated”
What is something that has impacted you significantly?
“My life experience has taught me what to do and what not to do."
How do you want to impact the world and why?
“Just treat people the way you want to be treated. With all the hatred and violence, I just want to live a peaceful life. And I wish everyone around me would do the same because it’s so dangerous now”
What does the word happiness mean to you?
“Happiness is an inside job. I believe that happiness depends on how you feel on the inside. If you’re okay on the inside, then you show it in the way that you live, things that you do, the way you treat people.“
What’s the most important thing in life to you?
I guess if I had to say one thing, I would try to help better communities of poverty and try to eradicate that, and try to raise tolerance for different types of people, and try to help people in need. [Because] I don’t think it’s fair how people get discriminated against by something as arbitrary as their race, gender, sexual orientation, status, economic status, or, you know, race or stuff like that.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? 20 years?
I guess having minor success. Doing something that I find interesting, making some money, maybe in a relationship. I don’t know. Whatever - whatever comes my way. Who cares? Life is life. (20 years…) Oh god… I hope I don’t get hit by a care by that time. I’m serious, like, it’s so scary. 20 years? Well, by that time I’ll be 36 so I will definitely need to have my act together. Hopefully be in a serious relationship, or I mean at least a minor relationship, a relationship of some sort. Having like a happy - be happy, that’s the most important thing even if I don’t have a relationship. I mean, I don’t define myself by who I’m with, but I guess just happiness.
How do you describe yourself as a person?
I don’t know. Good. I guess, hopefully, nice, I don’t know. Interesting, maybe? Whatever.
How do you want to impact the world and why?
A good way. I want to impact it, so that way when people like my friends, children, maybe my children if I have any, and their children’s children have a better space that’s safe and, you know, good, nice for them to live in.
Who has been the biggest influence on your life?
That’s a tough question. Probably my family because they've molded me to be the person that I am and I love them and hopefully they love me. I’m just kidding [of course they do]. Yeah, probably them. I couldn't sum it down to, like, specific people. I just had like a group.
What’s the best thing about being a teenager? Worst?
Nothing. I guess, like, having a clean slate. A lot of people say they want to go back to their teenage years and do it right and, you know, fix some things and not have any worries. Even though we have a ton of worries - not that any of them matter in the next five years but, regardless. Just having a clean slate to do things. (Worst…) Oh, I don’t know. No one’s serious about anything. I mean, not that I’m serious, but I mean, it would be nice to have, like, some actual, some thing that matters, I guess.Where do you see yourself in 5 years ?
“In 5 years I see myself in college studying veterinary medicine, I see myself in a college dorm and having fun being a college student.”
What motivates you ?
“People around me and like music such as Ed Sheeran. I love music It motivates me to wake up everyday.”
Are you easy to talk to ?
“I believe so I have a lot of friends and everybody is kind and I’m kind to other people so I think I am.”
Q1- What or who do you cherish most in your life?
Aaliyah- I cherish my mom and my dad, and of course my boyfriend Adam because he helps me with my math work, and my parents raised me.
Q2- What are your goals for your future?
Aaliyah- My goals for my future are to go to NYU and get my masters degree and then become a journalist or a magazine editor.
Q3- How do you currently work to make sure those goals are met?
Aaliyah- I constantly write essays and practice my writing and enter programs and contests to see how well my writing is. And constantly ask questions with english teachers and other people to see how I can improve my writing.
Well, Indigo what is your earliest memory?
“My earliest memory would have to, - probably in North Carolina, me and you, and yetta (our grandma) watching us running around in the grass, and playing in the sand, and riding on fourwheelers and things like that’s probably my earliest memory and we about 4 or 5.
Can you tell me a story about your name?
“My mom was watching a movie, well our mom was watching a movie and she heard the name Indigo, it was a Spike Lee movie and she just kinda said when she have a daughter she’s going to name her Indigo, and she got pregnant with me and that’s what she named me.”
Well, where do you see yourself in 10 years? 20?
“In 10 years I see myself done with school and starting my career as a child psychiatrist and an entrepreneur in Fashion, clothing. I see myself having a family and just being happy and being taken care of. In 20 years, I would hope that I would be so settled that I wouldn’t have to work anymore, that I would be retired and my kids would be taken care of and my family would still be happy and live a happy life.”
