Samantha Cohen Photo by Carli Kovel I walked into the coffee shop across from Latin and sifted through the pumpkin product placement signs to find Tyler Goff and Elizabeth Carlson in the back area, chatting at a table near the door. I know the lovely Elizabeth Carlson through co-starring in a few Latin plays together and through JSC (Jewish Student Connection). She offered to help me get to know the mystery man that is Tyler Goff who sat beside her. Mr. Goff, a junior who is new to Latin this year, kindly allowed Elizabeth and me to pry into the inner-workings of his mind as he casually sipped a sparkling clementine Izze. Snazzy.  Elizabeth clued me in on the fact that Tyler had recently moved to Chicago. In fact, he has moved quite a bit throughout his life. Tyler elaborated, explaining that he has lived in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Switzerland, and New Jersey! He said that living in Switzerland was a great experience and his international perspective makes him more unique, but he claims that Chicago is his favorite home yet. Despite the fact that he actually lives in the northern suburb of Kenilworth Tyler told me: “this is the closest I have ever lived to a city.” He and his brother Alex, who is also an upper schooler at Latin, take the train into Lincoln Park each day. Tyler also has another younger brother and sister who attend middle school in Kenilworth along with two cats and two dogs. While he has been enjoying his time in Chicago, Tyler can see himself on the West Coast or Hawaii one day. He can definitely be a “California guy,” he claimed. While Tyler is new at Latin he took no time to get involved. Not only does he run alongside Elizabeth on the Cross Country team, he also plans on running track, along with his active participation in K.I.C.K and Junior Statesmen of America. He describes junior year as “busy but good.” Tyler’s last school was quite similar to Latin, but he is still anxious and excited to delve into unique Latin traditions such as Project Week and Winter Carnival. Tyler mentioned that his English teacher, Mr. Joyce (who teaches “Banned America”) has positively influenced him this year. In fact, when I asked Tyler who he would switch places with, out of all the Latin community members he chose Mr. Joyce. “He just seems so cool and interesting and unique,” Goff explained. True that, Tyler. Tyler said that the social transition into Latin has been a smooth one, saying: “the junior lounge has been a great place to socialize with my grade.” He loves all of his fellow juniors, but so far, Tyler’s favorite seniors are Kobi Walsh who is in his French class, and Toshi (also known as Josh Goldberg) with whom he runs. Gina in the Cafeteria is also quite friendly to him and makes him feel at home. Who doesn’t love Gina? At this point in our cozy conversation, Elizabeth had to bid us farewell. Before she went outside to meet her ride Tyler flipped Elizabeth into the hot seat by asking her a question. “What drives you, Elizabeth?” he asked. She responded that she is competitive and is driven by her inner goals to be her best self. Well said. “Alright back to me,” Tyler joked once Elizabeth left. The conversation soon turned to pop culture when I asked Tyler about his favorite movies. He loves Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Though we respectfully disagree with each other about which Indiana Jones movie is the best (IT’S THE FOURTH!) we both agreed that the original Star Wars movies with the puppet Yoda outdo the more recent ones with Natalie Portman without question. In addition to The Colbert Report and The Daily show, Tyler also shares my passion for watching the Twilight Zone. When I asked him to reveal his celebrity crush he admitted it was Miley Cyrus. When I asked him whether it was pre-haircut, he responded that he wasn’t aware of her new ‘do, so we decided that we would play it safe and say pre-haircut. Unfortunately I was the bearer of bad news because he was not previously aware of her engagement to Liam Hemsworth. He turned to putty in his seat when I revealed the news to him and said that he was heartbroken. I quickly changed the subject and asked if he had heard about the recent breakup between Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber. He responded that he was already “all over that.” We exchanged our sorrow about the death of Hollywood’s “It” couple and shared a moment of silence. In order to switch to brighter conversation, I asked Tyler what he enjoys doing when he has time to himself in Kenilworth. He responded that he enjoys biking on the Green Bay biking trail that leads to a neighboring suburb called Glencoe. Because he is an athlete, Tyler especially enjoyed watching the Olympics this summer. Fellow runner Usain Bolt was his favorite. “I admire him,” Tyler said. “I also admire my parents.” Tyler did confess that he is not a fan of watching football. We definitely have that in common. Finally, he said that there are quite a few weddings in Kenilworth on a regular basis so he will crash one every now and then. Through our heart to heart over Izzes, I was able to learn so much about the mystery behind Tyler Goff. Not only is he a great guy, he also has a fun and sarcastic sense of humor and great taste in T.V shows. He has never broken a bone, plays soft jazz while doing his homework, and  enjoys wearing suits. If you happen to run into Mr. Tyler Goff in the hallways of Latin, running around the park, or on the train with his brother Alex, get to know him for yourself. He is fun, kind and engaging. Till next time, Sam]]>