By: Keya Nijhawan
Those who were once Lion cubs have now morphed into almost fully grown Lions. Lovett lifer Anna Goodsell is back on the bank from summer break for the 11th year in a row.
As one would expect, the river bank has changed quite a bit in 11 years. “A lot of the architecture has changed, and overall teachers have just gotten better about their policies and how they treat students,” Anna says. With this, she noted that students do not get kicked out of class as much as they used to. Personally, I think it has more to do with students growing up as time has gotten, rather than the teachers changing policies.
I interviewed Anna in the new and improved lobby space, which proved to be quite noisy. As we shared a free period, we thought the Poole Foyer would be nice and quiet, and we were quickly proved wrong, as Mr. Newman barged in right as we were about to start our interview. We both agreed that while it is a nice space to sit and talk with friends, the noise makes it hard to get work done.
Then again, Anna should be accustomed to noisy spaces because over the summer, she “…went to camp, where I lived on a boat for three weeks, with a bunch of strangers.” There she learned how to sail and scuba dive, but sadly did not bring home any cute boys. This boating adventure is called Action Quest, and she described this time on the boat as the best part of her summer.
Since my interview with Anna was during our free period, I had to ask why she chose not to have a full academic schedule this semester. “I need to get all of that extra work done,” she says. “It is overwhelming sometimes, so a free period helps.” Still, she is nervous that she will struggle to always stay on task. One obstacle is her tendency to get distracted by the number of tabs open on her laptop.
Despite some struggles, she believes this semester will be easier for her compared to last semester. This is because she feels last semester she was still getting the hang of things and trying to get used to high school. So now that she has one year under her belt she should be good to go, right? Especially with that free period (unless we spend the whole time eating in the cafe).
Speaking of which, during the interview, Anna answered my questions in between munches on a cinnamon bun that looked absolutely delicious. She had a smile from ear to ear and I have a sneaking suspicion that the smile was not because she was being interviewed by me, but because of that cinnamon bun.
And the chocolate milk to wash it down, of course. She’s been drinking it since she was in kindergarten. We may evolve from cubs into full-grown Lions, but some things never change.
