This week, meet freshman, volleyball player, and Frank Ocean enthusiast Hadja Barry!

Scarlet Gitelson: What’s your favorite place to hang out at school?

Hadja Barry: It kind of depends on my mood. If I have an art free, then [a] quiet room with my friends. Or the benches, specifically the third-floor bench, because I like how long it is.

SG: What’s your favorite thing at the kiosk?

HB: Cran-Apple.

SG: What would be your advice to a new student at Latin?

HB: Use your free periods wisely. Even if you take eight classes, you’re going to have an art free, and wellness too. Use it wisely.

SG: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

HB: Right now I would say the Maldives, just because I want to be somewhere tropical.

SG: What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned over the past year?

HB: Organization. It’s highly important. Like my meetings—organizing them at the right time that correlates with my frees. [Managing] my work, and when and where I do it.

SG: What’s a memory you wish you could hold onto forever?

HB: When me and my friends walked to Wingstop. On that day—we had school—it was like negative two degrees. It was cold, but it was memorable. The food was good—the weather, terrible, but it was worth it.

SG: What are you most proud of?

HB: Being able to make friends and adapt to this type of environment, because I wasn’t used to this [environment].

SG: What’s something about your life that looks different than you would’ve expected it to?

HB: I didn’t know I was going to go to a private school without [a] uniform. This was my first year without uniform, and it was a hard adjustment. Being assigned what clothes to wear is so much eas[ier]. I don’t think people understand when I say this—my life was kind of stress-free, because I didn’t worry about back-to-school shopping. Yes, I would get a new uniform every single year, but I didn’t have to follow up on the trends and whatnot.

SG: What music would you play during your superhero montage and why?

HB: I would definitely play Frank Ocean—he’s my favorite artist. I just love the way he carries himself, his music, and his lyrics—they mean so much.