This week, get to know junior, squash player, Roman history buff, and Rocket League enthusiast Quinn McDonough!
Scarlet Gitelson: What’s your favorite Latin tradition?
Quinn McDonough: Maybe the DePaul basketball game. That’s always fun, just going with my friends and cheering for Latin.
SG: What’s your favorite movie and why?
QM: My favorite movie is “The Big Lebowski,” because it’s really funny. The bowling scenes are very enlightening.
SG: If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be and why?
QM: Probably a Komodo dragon, because I studied them in Pre-K and I still know all the facts, so it would be kind of cool to have one of my own. But they’re really dangerous, so I’d have to keep it in an enclosure.
SG: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
QM: I would probably go to Italy and go see the Roman Forum and the Coliseum because I’m really interested in Roman history. I take Latin, and I like learning about Ancient Rome. I think it would be fun to see Virgil’s grave and how the city was constructed and all of the sites there.
SG: What interests you about Rome?
QM: I just think the whole empire is so interesting, like how they were a republic and then Augustus became emperor and then it created this super long line of emperors. One thing that is kind of interesting is that so many people tried to seize power, but every single time they’d just end up getting murdered. So it’s kind of weird that people would want to become emperor if they know they’re probably just going to die. But I guess people like power. Also, they have really good concrete, which is another cool fact. I just find it really cool how Ancient Rome shaped so much of Western society, and I love learning about Greek mythology as well—that’s one of the reasons I chose to take Latin.
SG: What’s been your favorite moment of this year so far?
QM: Project Week. I [went] biking in Texas hill country, although it’s really more like Texas mountain country. I had a blast spending a week out in nature—sleeping in tents, sitting by the fire; making new friends and getting to know my classmates better. The biking was a blast, although very challenging, and I think I want to get into biking in Chicago after that experience.
SG: What’s something about your life now that looks different than you would’ve expected it to at the beginning of high school?
QM: Honestly, the workload. I was expecting it to be difficult, but the jump from sophomore year to junior year is really big. I feel like freshman and sophomore year you don’t have that much homework, depending on what you’re doing, but I definitely didn’t. And then this year I have way more than what I was doing freshman [and] sophomore year combined.
SG: What are you most looking forward to about next year?
QM: I’m looking forward to having more freedom in my schedule, so I think it’s going to be more fun to have the end of my year especially, I feel like I’ll be able to take more interesting courses, like I’ll probably be able to take more English courses; I’m hoping to do that. Senior year in general, I’m looking forward to having a little bit more freedom with my course load.
SG: What’re you most proud of?
QM: I’d say squash. I play on the club team at Latin and am now continuing to play during this spring season with the same coach. I’m really proud of the improvements I’ve made in my game and also being able to play at nationals with the team. We went to Philly—the city’s super cool and we even got to play at [University of Pennsylvania’s] squash facility for one of our matches, which made me feel like a really legit squash player.
